Facile One-Step Microwave-Assisted Route towards Ni NanospheresReduced Graphene Oxide Hybrids for Non-Enzymatic Glucose Sensing.docVIP

Sensors 2012, 12, 4860-4869; doi:10.3390/s120404860 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Facile One-Step Microwave-Assisted Route towards Ni Nanospheres/Reduced Graphene Oxide Hybrids for Non-Enzymatic Glucose Sensing Zhigang Wang 1, Yong Hu 1,*, Wenlong Yang 1, Mojiao Zhou 1 and Xiao Hu 2,* 1 Institute of Physical Chemistry, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China; E-Mails: zhigangwang@ (Z.W.); yangwenlong@ (W.Y.); zhoumojiao@ (M.Z.) 2 School of Materials Science Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mails: yonghu@ (Y.H.); asxhu@.sg (X.H.); Tel.: +86-579-8228-2234; Fax: +86-579-8228-2595. Received: 24 February 2012; in revised form: 14 March 2012 / Accepted: 23 March 2012 / Published: 13 April 2012 Abstract: In this work, a facile one-step microwave-assisted method for deposition of monodisperse Ni nanospheres on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets to form Ni-rGO nanohybrids is discussed. In the presence of hydrazine monohydrate, Ni nanospheres are grown onto rGO sheets using nickel precursor and GO as starting materials in ethylene glycol (EG) solution under a low level of microwave irradiation (300 W) for 20 min, during which GO is also reduced to rGO. The as-prepared nanohybrids exhibit well-dispersed Ni nanosphere (about 80 nm in diameter) loadings and effective reduction of graphene oxide. The resulting Ni-rGO nanohybrids-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) shows significantly improved electrochemical performance in nonenzymatic amperometric glucose detection. In addition, interference from the oxidation of common interfering species under physiological conditions, such as ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA), is effectively avoided. Keywords: carbon materials; nanocomposites; microwave-assisted method; sensors  Sensors 2012, 12 4861 1. Introduc