The effects of carbon nanotube addition and oxyfluorination on the glucose-sensing capabilities of glucose oxidase-coated carbon fiber electrodes

Glucose-sensing electrodes were constructed from carbon fibers by electrospinning and heat treatment. By controlling the pore size, the specific surface area and pore volume of the electrospun carbon fibers were increased for efficient immobilization of the glucose oxidase. Carbon nanotubes were embedded as an electrically conductive additive to improve the electrical property of the porous carbon fibers. In addition, the surface of the porous carbon fibers was modified with hydrophilic functional groups by direct oxyfluorination to increase the affinity between the hydrophobic carbon surface and the hydrophilic glucose oxidase molecules. The porosity of the carbon fibers was improved significantly with approximately 28- and 35-fold increases in the specific surface area and pore volume, respectively. The number of chemical bonds between carbon and oxygen were increased with higher oxygen content during oxyfluorination based on the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results. Glucose sensing was carried out by current voltagram and amperometric methods. A high-performance glucose sensor was obtained with high sensitivity and rapid response time as a result of carbon nanotube addition, physical activation and surface modification. The mechanism of the highly sensitive prepared glucose sensor was modeled by an enzyme kinetics study using the Michaelis–Menten equation.