Highly Efficient Glucose Oxidation Reaction on Pt/NiO/Carbon Nanorods for Application in Glucose Fuel Cells and Sensors

Glucose oxidation reaction (GOR) is vital to both the glucose fuel cell and glucose-sensing performance. Designing anodic materials with good conductivity and abundant active sites is critical to increase the efficiency of GOR. Here, we present the in situ generation of NiO/carbon rods (NiO/CRs) firstly from Ni-polyaniline (Ni-PANI) rod precursors, and then deposited Pt on NiO/CRs with a microwave-assisted process. The catalysts were characterized by various techniques, such as x-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Electrochemical measurements demonstrated that Pt/NiO/CRs-2 can act as highly efficient electrocatalysts for GOR. When used as anodic electrodes in non-enzymatic fuel cells, the Pt/NiO/CRs-2 exhibited the highest power density (1617.6 μ W cm −2 ) with an open circuit voltage of 0.758 V. Moreover, Pt/NiO/CRs-2 also displayed a superior sensing performance for glucose detection with a sensitivity of 348.54 µA mM −2 cm −2 in the range of 1–2000 µ M and 136.56 µ A mM −2 cm −2 (2000–10,000 µ M). The lower detection limit is 0.33 µ M (S/N = 3). The enhanced electrochemical performance of Pt/NiO/CRs-2 may be due to the synergistic effect of Pt and NiO on the carbon rods, with the deposition of Pt not only facilitating the charge transfer but also inducing more active sites on NiO/CRs for GOR. The results may provide a promising viewpoint to design efficient catalysts for GOR. Graphical Abstract