Defect Surface Engineering of Hollow NiCo₂S₄ Nanoprisms towards Performance-Enhanced Non-Enzymatic Glucose Oxidation

Transition metal sulfides have been explored as electrode materials for non-enzymatic detection. In this work, we investigated the effects of phosphorus doping on the electrochemical performances of NiCo₂S₄ electrodes (P-NiCo₂S₄) towards glucose oxidation. The fabricated non-enzymatic biosensor displayed better sensing performances than pristine NiCo₂S₄, with a good sensitivity of 250 µA mM⁻¹ cm⁻², a low detection limit (LOD) of 0.46 µM (S/N = 3), a wide linear range of 0.001 to 5.2 mM, and high selectivity. Moreover, P-NiCo₂S₄ demonstrated its feasibility for glucose determination for practical sample testing. This is due to the fact that the synergetic effects between Ni and Co species, and the partial substitution of S vacancies with P can help to increase electronic conductivity, enrich binary electroactive sites, and facilitate surface electroactivity. Thus, it is found that the incorporation of dopants into NiCo₂S₄ is an effective strategy to improve the electrochemical activity of host materials.