A facile route for the syntheses of Ni(OH)2 and NiO nanostructures as potential candidates for non-enzymatic glucose sensor

In modern world, diabetes is one of the most leading diseases that cause human death and disability. Continuous effort to control and manage diabetes by acute monitoring of the blood glucose concentration requires the development of an efficient and reliable glucose sensing device. Although both enzymatic and enzyme-free methods of glucose detection are available in the market, non-enzymatic biosensors are more significant due to certain drawbacks in enzyme based sensors. In this article, a stable non-enzymatic sensing platform for d-glucose based on nickel hydroxide and nickel oxide nanomaterials has been described. Ni(OH)2 and NiO were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal route followed by the heat treatment. Detailed morphological and structural characterizations were carried out using GIXRD, transmission and scanning electron microscopy) (TEM and FESEM) which reveal that hexagonal β-Ni(OH)2 and cubic NiO phases have been formed. TEM image of NiO has shown that the nanomaterials consist of ca. 10 nm sized rod like pattern distributed uniformly. Both Ni(OH)2 and NiO have shown excellent electrocatalytic activity towards enzyme-free glucose sensing under ambient condition. Glucose sensing investigation based on amperometric i-t curve performed in 0.2 M NaOH medium shows a good sensitivity of 12.09 µA mM-1 cm-2 and 24.0 µA mM-1 cm-2, respectively for Ni(OH)2 and NiO nanostructures. Interference test was done using reagents like ascorbic acid, uric acid and dopamine to confirm the selectivity of nickel hydroxide and oxide nanomaterials towards glucose analyte. So, the proposed Ni(OH)2 and NiO based electrodes can be used as a cost-effective, stable and non-air sensitive platform for non-enzymatic glucose detection.