Facile synthesis of NiCo2O4@Polyaniline core-shell nanocomposite for sensitive determination of glucose

In this work, the core-shell structure of NiCo2O4@Polyaniline (NiCo2O4@PANI) nanocomposite is fabricated via a facile hydrothermal treatment followed by a post-Polyaniline (PANI) coating process. The synthesized materials are characterized by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectrometer. The biosensing properties of NiCo2O4@PANI composite and NiCo2O4 nanoparticles toward glucose are studied based on glassy carbon electrode. Electrochemical studies indicate that the obtained core-shell NiCo2O4@PANI composite shows higher electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of glucose, compared with NiCo2O4 nanoparticles. The enhanced performance is related to the core-shell structure of NiCo2O4@PANI composite and the outstanding conductivity of the polyaniline shell. At a potential of +0.5 V, the NiCo2O4@PANI nanocomposite modified glass carbon electrode demonstrates a wide linear range up to 4.7350 mM with sensitivity of 4.55 mA mM−1 cm−2 and detection limit of 0.3833 μM. It also shows significant electrochemical stability, good reproducibility and excellent selectivity. The results suggest that the NiCo2O4@PANI nanocomposite is a promising electrode material for electrochemical biosensor.