Hierarchically porous cellulose nanofibril aerogel decorated with polypyrrole and nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxide for high-performance nonenzymatic glucose sensors

Abstract

With increasing emphasis on green chemistry, biomass-based materials have attracted increased attention regarding the development of highly efficient functional materials. Herein, a new pore-rich cellulose nanofibril aerogel is utilized as a substrate to integrate highly conductive polypyrrole and active nanoflower-like nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxide through in situ chemical polymerization and electrodeposition. This ternary composite can act as an effective self-supported electrode for the electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose. With the synergistic effect of three heterogeneous components, the electrode achieves outstanding glucose sensing performance, including a high sensitivity (851.4 µA·mmol⁻¹·L·cm⁻²), a short response time (2.2 s), a wide linear range (two stages: 0.001−8.145 and 8.145−35.500 mmol·L⁻¹), strong immunity to interference, outstanding intraelectrode and interelectrode reproducibility, a favorable toxicity resistance (Cl^‒), and a good long-term stability (maintaining 86.0% of the original value after 30 d). These data are superior to those of some traditional glucose sensors using nonbiomass substrates. When determining the blood glucose level of a human serum, this electrode realizes a high recovery rate of 97.07%–98.89%, validating the potential for high-performance blood glucose sensing.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

cellulose nanofibril / aerogel / nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxide / polypyrrole / nonenzymatic glucose sensor

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31901249), the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2022JJ30079), the Hunan Provincial Technical Innovation Platform and Talent Program in Science and Technology (Grant No. 2020RC3041), and the Training Program for Excellent Young Innovators of Changsha (Grant No. kq2106056).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-023-2348-2 and is accessible for authorized users.

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