Prism-like bimetallic (Ni-Co) alkaline carboxylate-based non-enzymatic sensor capable of exceptionally high catalytic activity towards glucose

In this study, we fabricated a novel non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on prism-like bimetallic alkaline carboxylate (CoNi-MIM). The morphology and structure of CoNi-MIM were carefully investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical glucose oxidation of the synthesized sensor was then explored by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry in alkaline medium. It was found that CoNi-MIM is the optimal choice with a remarkably high sensitivity of 5024.4 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻², low detection limit of 56.1 nM (S/N = 3), linear response of up to 14.3 mM and excellent selectivity compared to Co-MIM, CoFe-MIM and CoMn-MIM. Furthermore, the as-fabricated sensor demonstrated appreciable practicality for the determination of glucose in real samples. These results indicate that CoNi-MIM holds a good application prospect in non-enzymatic glucose sensing.