Direct epitaxial growth of nickel phosphide nanosheets on nickel foam as self-support electrode for efficient...

Design and develop of cost-effective non-enzymatic electrode materials is of great importance for next generation of glucose sensors. In this work, we report a high-performance self-supporting electrode fabricated via direct epitaxial growth of nickel phosphide on Ni foam (Ni₂P/NF) for nonenzymatic glucose sensors in alkaline solution. Under the optimal conditions, the uniform Ni₂P nanosheets could be obtained with an average thickness of 80 nm, which provides sufficient active sites for glucose molecules. As a consequence, the Ni₂P/NF electrode displays superior electrochemistry performances with a high sensitivity of 6375.1μA mM^-1cm^-2, a quick response about 1 s, a low detection limit of 0.14μM (S/N = 3), and good selectivity and specificity. Benefit from the strong interaction between Ni₂P and NF, the Ni₂P/NF electrode is also highly stable for long-term applications. Furthermore, the Ni₂P/NF electrode is capable of analyzing glucose in human blood serum with satisfactory results, indicating that the Ni₂P/NF is a potential candidate for glucose sensing in real life.