Fabrication of porous copper oxide nanostructure on nickel foam electrode by a co-precipitation method for non-enzymatic glucose detection

A novel porous copper oxide nanostructure on nickel foam (CuO/NF) electrode has been successfully prepared through a co-precipitation way. The porous CuO structure and nickel foam can be integrated into a three-dimensional ordered and hierarchal CuO electrode sensor. The porous CuO structure contains many loosely packed nanoparticles and the nanochannels, which are beneficial for providing more active sites for electrocatalytic oxidation–reduction reactions. The Cu(III)/Cu(II) pair plays an essential role, which completes the charge transfer during the electrochemically catalyzed reaction. Two Cu(III) ions obtain two electrons from one molecule of glucose, which completes two electron transfers to produce one molecule of gluconic acid lactone. The results of the actual detection of Fetal Bovine Serum indicate that the CuO/NF electrode produced could be utilized for the determination of actual samples.