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Engineering metalized surface of single hair via electroless Cu-plating strategy for self-supported nonenzymatic glucose sensor

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Abstract

Surface engineering of human hair via electroless copper-plating process was successfully carried out as a self-supported electrochemical sensor for successful detection of glucose in human serum. Polydopamine (PDA) coating was first grafted on the surface of a single hair through oxidative self-polymerization of dopamine, and subsequently, the ultrathin metal layer composed of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) on the hair surface was achieved using by the convenient electroless deposition process. The single hair@CuNPs composite with a uniformly dispersed conductive layer (8 μm in thickness) exhibited prominent electrocatalytic activity to glucose oxidation. The amperometric response of the self-supported nonenzymatic glucose sensor comprised two linear ranges (i.e., 0.002–5 mM and 5–35 mM), respectively, with a better detection limit of 1.62 μM and the best sensitivity of 110.98 μA−1 mM cm−2. As revealed by the finding, the surface engineering technique on single hair was confirmed as a simple and low-cost method for detecting glucose in human serum samples. The hair@CuNPs composite can be utilized as a promising potential in the next generation wearable and implantable bioelectronics application.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61571280 and 61971274) and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (20230742300 and 18595800700).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, People’s Republic of China

    Kunpeng Qian & Xin Feng

  2. College of Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, People’s Republic of China

    Kunpeng Qian, Yanfang Xu, Miao Miao, Dongmei Deng, Liqiang Luo & Xin Feng

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  1. Kunpeng Qian
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  2. Yanfang Xu
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  3. Miao Miao
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  4. Dongmei Deng
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Contributions

KQ was involved in methodology, investigation, data curation, writing and original draft. YX contributed to conceptualization, methodology, data curation. MM was involved in investigation. DD contributed to writing-review & editing and funding acquisition. LL contributed to writing-review & editing, funding acquisition and supervision. XF contributed to writing-review & editing, supervision, resources and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Liqiang Luo or Xin Feng.

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Qian, K., Xu, Y., Miao, M. et al. Engineering metalized surface of single hair via electroless Cu-plating strategy for self-supported nonenzymatic glucose sensor. J Mater Sci 58, 15074–15085 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08974-7

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