Au–ZnO bullet-like heterodimer nanoparticles: synthesis and use for enhanced nonenzymatic electrochemical determination of glucose

Abstract

In this work, the gold nanoseed mediated growth of bullet-like gold–zinc oxide (Au–ZnO) heterodimer nanoparticles has been reported. A formation pathway for the bullet-like morphology has been proposed. The heterojunction effect of the Au–ZnO nanoparticles was studied using UV-vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The bullet-like Au–ZnO heterodimer nanoparticles were effectively employed as a sensor for the nonenzymatic determination of glucose (GLU) in a Au–ZnO/MWCNTs/GC modified electrode. This showed good sensitivity and a wide linear range of 19–291 μM with a sensitivity of 0.0447 μA μM⁻¹ and a limit of detection of 0.19 μM. The resulting sensor displayed excellent repeatability and long-term stability.