Templated fabrication of three-dimensional ordered macroporous Cu2O/Ni structure for glucose sensing

A three-dimensional ordered macroporous Cu2O/Ni structure is fabricated by pulse electrodeposition of Cu2O nanoparticles on the skeletons of Ni inverse opals, and evaluated for electrochemical sensing of glucose. In the composite Cu2O/Ni structure, the Cu2O is primarily responsible for chemical sensing whereas the Ni inverse opals serve as the current collector providing an open framework for large accessible area and facile mass transport. Comprehensive material characterization and electrochemical analysis are conducted. For glucose sensing in a 0.1 M aqueous KOH solution, the composite Cu2O/Ni structure demonstrates comparable or even better performances than nanostructured Cu2O counterparts reported in the literatures. The Cu2O/Ni structure exhibits a linear detection range between 10 and 4970 µM, a low detection limit of 3.82 µM, as well as a sensitivity of 450.7 μA/(mM cm2) at 0.5 V. © 2021 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers