In-situ electrochemical deposition of dendritic Cu-Cu2S nanocomposites onto glassy carbon electrode for sensitive and non-enzymatic detection of glucose

Herein, we developed a sensitive and non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on a dendritic Cu-Cu2S nanocomposite-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Dendritic Cu-Cu2S were successfully deposited with high purity and crystallinity onto a GCE by a simple and single-step potentiostatic deposition method from an aqueous solution of CuCl2 and thiourea (TU). The electrocatalytic activity of the Cu-Cu2S/GCE sensor towards glucose oxidation was investigated by cyclic voltammetric and amperometric methods. The sensor exhibited high sensitivity (5.02 mA/mM/cm2) in the concentration range from 0.1 μM to 0.5 mM with a limit of detection of 0.33 μM (S/N = 3). In addition, this sensor showed high selectivity for glucose detection with good accuracy and recovery in human serum samples. Thus, the present sensor can be used as a simple and effective sensing platform for non-enzymatic detection of glucose.