ZnO nanowires modified with Au nanoparticles for nonenzymatic amperometric sensing of glucose

ZnO nanowires (NWs) synthesized using the vapor-phase deposition method on an Au electrode substrate with and without Au nanoparticle (NP) modification are applied for glucose detection. A significant enhancement of glucose sensitivity is obtained with Au NP modification. The Au NPs/ZnO NWs/Au electrode has peak currents gradually increasing from 41.2 to 155.5μA, and the ZnO NWs/Au electrode has peak currents increasing from 23.6 to 82.2μA with glucose concentration (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 mM) in cyclic voltammograms. Moreover, chronoamperometry results indicate that the response current of the Au NPs/ZnO NWs/Au electrode reached 140μA in 18 mM glucose in 0.1M NaOH, whereas that of the ZnO NWs/Au electrode was only around 74μA in 31.5 mM glucose.