One-pot preparation of reduced graphene oxide-carbon nanotube decorated with Au nanoparticles based on protein for non-enzymatic electrochemical sensing of glucose

A simple one-pot reduction/decoration strategy was reported to produce Au nanoparticles (NPs) dotted three-dimensional (3D) porous reduced graphene oxide-single walled carbon nanotube (rGO-SWCNT-Au) nanocomposites. In the synthesis process, GO was used to disperse SWCNT and the obtained GO-SWCNT conjugate was used as supporting material to further disperse in situ growing Au NPs. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as both reducing and stabilizing agent to reduce GO and HAuCl4 and to stabilize rGO-SWCNT and Au NPs. The morphology and microstructure characterization revealed that the proposed method could lead to the simultaneous reduction of GO and HAuCl4 together with efficient dispersion of Au NPs on the surface of rGO-SWCNT. Furthermore, electrochemical experiments demonstrated that rGO-SWCNT-Au nanocomposites could be used as electrocatalysts towards the oxidation of glucose, leading to an enzymeless glucose sensor with a wide linear range and a lower detection limit.