Manganese-doped tremella-like nickel oxide as biomimetic sensors toward highly sensitive detection of glucose in human serum

Tremella-like Mn-doped NiO nanomaterials (Mn-NiO) were synthesized via a simple hydrothermal process followed by calcination and then applied for biomimetic glucose sensing in an alkaline condition. Compared with regular NiO-based sensor, the Mn-NiO-based sensor performs higher electrocatalytic performance toward glucose oxidation reaction, which could be ascribed to a synergistic effect of Mn doping and tremella-like physical nanostructure. In more detail, Mn doping results in alteration of the surface electronic structure to promote the electro-oxidation activity, while the tremella-like nanostructure of NiO increases the electrochemical reaction surface area. This enzyme-free biomimetic glucose sensor demonstrates a high sensitivity of 3212.52 μA·mM−1·cm−2, fast response time (< 5 s), low limit of detection of 0.8 μM (S/N = 3) and long-term stability for glucose detection, along with reliable results in the human serum analysis. This work offers a facile approach to make a unique tremella-like nanostructure with specifically doped element to construct a biomimetic sensor with high electro-catalytic activity.