One-step synthesis of novel Cu@polymer nanocomposites through a self-activated route and their application as nonenzymatic glucose sensors

Abstract

In this study, we developed a one-step self-activated route for synthesizing novel core–shell Cu@polymer nanocomposites. Under solvothermal conditions, Cu²⁺ was reduced to metal copper by formaldehyde and salicylaldehyde and the newly generated copper crystals acted as the catalysts to activate the condensation polymerization between formaldehyde and salicylaldehyde, resulting in the formation of core–shell Cu@polymer nanocomposites with Cu nanoparticles as the cores and polymer as the shells. The Cu@polymer nanocomposites can be applied as a nonenzymatic sensor for glucose detection. The as-prepared Cu@polymer nanocomposite modified electrode shows good linear dependence in a wide range from 0.01 mM to 1 mM, a low detection limit, high sensitivity up to 1417.1 μA cm⁻² mM⁻¹ and great selectivity to glucose concentration change.