A non-enzymatic glucose sensing based on hollow cuprous oxide nanospheres in a Nafion matrix

• The synthesis of novel Cu2O hollow nanospheres by stepwise controlling addition of the reducer.
• Constructing a novel glucose sensing based on hollow Cu2O nanosphere–Nafion on GCE.
• The sensing exhibits high sensitivity, low detection limit, and strong anti-interference property.
• Hollow Cu2O nanospheres may be as excellent materials for non-enzyme electrochemical biosensor.

Utilizing as-prepared hollow cuprous oxide (Cu2O) nanospheres, a simple nonenzymatic glucose amperometric sensor was fabricated. The structure and morphology of hollow Cu2O nanospheres were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Electrocatalytic activity of Cu2O was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry, exhibiting a direct for the oxidation of glucose in an alkaline medium at 0.6 V. This constructing sensor was applied in detection of glucose with a detection limit of 0.41 μM, a linear detection range from 1.25 to 37.5 μM and with a high sensitivity of 2038.2 μA mM−1 cm−2. Due to superior catalytic performance and low cost of hollow Cu2O nanospheres, it shows great potential in applications for direct sensing of glucose.