Synthesis of uniformly dispersed Fe2TiO5 nanodisks: a sensitive photoelectrochemical sensor for glucose monitoring in human blood serum

Abstract

A novel photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensor was constructed, using Fe₂TiO₅ nanodisks under visible-light irradiation, for the determination of glucose in human blood serum. The uniformly dispersed Fe₂TiO₅ nanodisks were synthesized for the first time by an ion exchange method and subsequent heat treatment. As excellent catalysts, the Fe₂TiO₅ nanodisks can directly catalyze the oxidation of glucose to produce current in the absence of glucose oxidase. Compared with commercial TiO₂, the Fe₂TiO₅ nanodisks exhibit better activity in the electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose and can generate a photocurrent as a signal for glucose detection. The PEC sensor shows a wide linear range (4 μM–10 mM), a low limit of detection (0.588 μM) and a super sensitivity of 2653 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻², which are much better than similar configurations reported previously. This PEC sensor has been successfully used to monitor glucose in human blood serum. Moreover, this PEC glucose sensor based on Fe₂TiO₅ nanodisks possesses great potential for application in point-of-care clinical diagnosis.