Non-Enzymatic Glucose Sensing Using Carbon Quantum Dots Decorated with Copper Oxide Nanoparticles

Perturbations in glucose homeostasis is critical for human health, as hyperglycemia (defining diabetes) leads to premature death caused by macrovascular and microvascular complications. However, the simple and accurate detection of glucose in the blood at low cost remains a challenging task, although it is of great importance for the diagnosis and therapy of diabetic patients. In this work, carbon quantum dots decorated with copper oxide nanostructures (CQDs/Cu2O) are prepared by a simple hydrothermal approach, and their potential for electrochemical non-enzymatic glucose sensing is evaluated. The proposed sensor exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity towards glucose oxidation in alkaline solutions. The glucose sensor is characterized by a wide concentration range from 6 µM to 6 mM, a sensitivity of 2.9 ± 0.2 µA·µM−1·cm−2, and a detection limit of 6 µM at a signal-to-noise ratio S/N = 3. The sensors are successfully applied for glucose determination in human serum samples, demonstrating that the CQDs/Cu2O-based glucose sensor satisfies the requirements of complex sample detection with adapted potential for therapeutic diagnostics.