Synthesis of Ni/Au multilayer nanowire arrays for ultrasensitive non-enzymatic sensing of glucose

Ni/Au multilayer nanowire arrays were fabricated by an electrochemical method using anodic aluminum oxide as template. Each nanowire has a length of 2.5 μm and diameter of 70 nm with alternating Ni and Au layers along its axis. A novel glucose sensor was then developed using a Ni/Au multilayer nanowire array immobilized on an ITO electrode. The resulting sensor exhibited two specific linear ranges at 0.25 μM-2 mM and 2-5.5 mM, with very high sensitivities (3372 and 1906 μA mM−1 cm−2, respectively). The detection limit was as low as 0.1 μM with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. An excellent selectivity and acceptable stability were also achieved. These results indicate that Ni/Au multilayer nanowire arrays are promising new platforms for the construction of non-enzymatic glucose sensors.