NiO-decorated single-walled carbon nanotubes for high-performance nonenzymatic glucose sensing

Porous nickel-decorated single-walled carbon nanotubes (Ni-SWCNTs) were grown on indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate through the arc-discharge method. Oxidation followed at 400 °C in the air for 2 h to synthesize the NiO-SWCNT/ITO electrode. The Ni nanoparticles distributing among the SWCNTs were oxidized to become NiO as the effective sensing probes. The surface morphology and crystalline structure of the NiO-SWCNT/ITO electrode were characterized by SEM, EDS and Raman spectroscopy. The response of the NiO-SWCNT/ITO electrode to glucose was examined using the electrochemical method. The obtained cyclic voltammograms revealed the electrocatalytic behavior of the NiO-SWCNT/ITO electrode with glucose in 0.1 M NaOH solution. The amperometric response of the NiO-SWCNT/ITO electrode to glucose was investigated at a potential of 0.5 V in 0.1 M NaOH that showed a linear range of the detection from 1 μM to 1000 μM, as well as a low detection limit of 0.3 μM and a high sensitivity at 907 μA mM−1 cm−2.