Three-dimensional roselike α-Ni(OH)2 assembled from nanosheet building blocks for non-enzymatic glucose detection

• High-quality roselike α-Ni(OH)2 can be obtained via a self-assembly process with the assistance of PEG.
• The Ni(OH)2-RS have bimodal porosity in the mesoporous regime with large specific surface areas.
• This work developed a highly sensitive biosensor based on Ni(OH)2-RS for the determination of glucose.
• This biosensor shows a wide linear range of 0.87 μM–10.53 mM and a lower detection limit of 0.08 μM.

Glucose detection plays very important roles in diagnostics and management of diabetes. The search for novel catalytic materials with appropriate architectures is the key step in the fabrication of highly sensitive glucose sensors. In this work, α-Ni(OH)2 roselike structures (Ni(OH)2-RS) assembled from nanosheet building blocks were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method through the hydrolysis of nickel chloride in the mixed solvents of water and ethanol with the assistance of polyethylene glycol (PEG). The structure and morphology of the roselike α-Ni(OH)2 were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm measurement. TEM and FE-SEM images showed that the synthesized Ni(OH)2 was roselike and the size of the leaf-shaped nanosheet was about 5 nm in thickness, which leads to larger active surface areas and faster electron transfer for the detection of glucose. Compared with the bare GCE and bulk Ni(OH)2/GCE, the Ni(OH)2-RS/GCE had higher catalytic activity toward the oxidation of glucose. Under the optimal conditions, the Ni(OH)2-RS/GCE offers a variety of merits, such as a wide linear response window for glucose concentrations ranging from 0.87 μM to 10.53 mM, short response time (3 s), a lower detection limit of 0.08 μM (S/N = 3), as well as long term stability and repeatability.

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