In situ synthesis of CuS nanotubes on Cu electrode for sensitive nonenzymatic glucose sensor

In this report, a sensitive nonenzymatic glucose sensor based on CuS nanotube (CuS NTs) was fabricated. CuS NTs made up of CuS nanoparticles were successfully in situ synthesized on Cu electrode by a simple self-sacrificial template method. The morphology and crystallinity of CuS NTs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission spectroscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrochemical property of CuS NTs modified Cu electrode (CuS NTs/Cu) for glucose electrooxidation was thoroughly investigated by cyclic voltammetry and amperometric methods. The CuS NTs based glucose sensor exhibited an extraordinary detection limit as low as 45 nM (S/N = 3) and two wide linear ranges. A lower glucose concentration ranged from 0.2 μM to 2.5 mM with high sensitivity of 3135 μA mM−1 cm−2 and a higher glucose concentration ranged from 2.5 mM to 6 mM with relative low sensitivity of 2205 μA mM−1 cm−2. Furthermore, the proposed sensor also showed high anti-interference ability and was successfully used for glucose detecting in human serum with good accuracy and satisfactory recovery. This work had demonstrated a simple and effective sensing platform based on CuS NTs for nonenzymatic glucose detection.