Localized photothermal effect of Fe-doped nickel phosphide nanoparticles enables sensitive glucose electrochemical sensing in honey samples

Localized photothermal effect accelerates the kinetics of electrochemical reaction and generates much stronger electrochemical signal, thereby endowing electrochemical sensor with high-performance. In this work, Fe doped Ni 2 P nanoparticles supported on nickel foam (Fe-Ni 2 P/NF) was explored as an efficient photothermal electrocatalytic bifunctional catalyst for glucose detection. Fe doping regulates electronic structure of Ni 2 P and achieves excellent photothermal effect (PE) under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. As expected, PE assisted Fe-Ni 2 P/NF electrode (PE-Fe-Ni 2 P/NF) shows high performance for glucose detection, with a sensitivity of 10.30 mA mM -1 cm -2 and a low limit of detection of 0.14 μM, which might be contributed to the accelerated electron transfer and enlarged electrochemical surface area (ECSA) induced by NIR irradiation. Furthermore, PE-Fe-Ni 2 P/NF is applicable for glucose determination in real honey samples. This work provides an innovative paradigm for boosting electrochemical sensing of Fe-Ni 2 P/NF via external thermal field and demonstrates its potential in food analysis. • Fe-Ni 2 P/NF utilized as a photothermal electrocatalyst for glucose oxidation. • Fe-Ni 2 P/NF shows excellent light-to-heat conversion ability. • PE-Fe-Ni 2 P/NF shows enhanced catalytic activity for glucose oxidation. • PE-Fe-Ni 2 P/NF exhibits high performance towards glucose detection.