A facile synthesis of CuZrO2 nanoparticle functionalized chitosan for capable and stable non-enzymatic electrochemical detection of glucose and H2O2

Abstract

Mixed transition metal oxides and organic polymers are receiving a lot of interest because of their positive characteristics, such as high permeability, large specific surface area, and ion dispersion paths. In this work, CuZrO₂ and CuZrO₂ anchored chitosan (CS) nanoparticles were fabricated and characterized by FT-IR, micro-Raman, XPS, P-XRD, EIS, HR-SEM, HR-TEM, AFM and TGA. It was found that the CuZrO₂ NPs were successfully decorated and well dispersed on the surface of CS without agglomeration. When compared to bare GCE and CuZrO₂–GCE, the proposed CuZrO₂–CS nanoparticles demonstrated superior electrochemical features and sensing capabilities for glucose and H₂O₂ detection. The sensing ability of the fabricated electrodes was examined, the CuZrO₂/CS electrode demonstrated high sensing ability (3.801 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻²) with a quick reaction time (4 s), a low limit of detection (LOD) (2.02 μM), and selectivity when compared to CuZrO₂. Furthermore, the electrode exhibited outstanding H₂O₂ detection with a fast reaction time of 3 s, a wide linearity from 5 μM to 6.840 mM, a high-level sensitivity of 8.22 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻² and a LOD of 2.03 μM. We also examined the practicability of CuZrO₂–CS NPs for the sensing of glucose and H₂O₂ in real-time samples of blood serum and active cancer HeLa cells. We expect that this research work can provide a new understanding of nanocomposites to realize a simple and reliable electrochemical glucose and H₂O₂ sensing system.