NiO/SiC nanocomposite prepared by atomic layer deposition used as a novel electrocatalyst for nonenzymatic glucose sensing

NiO nanoparticles are deposited onto SiC particles by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The structure of the NiO/SiC hybrid material is investigated by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The size of the NiO nanoparticles is flexible and can be adjusted by altering the cycle number of the NiO ALD. Electrochemical measurements illustrate that NiO/SiC prepared with 600 cycles for NiO ALD exhibits the highest glucose sensing ability in alkaline electrolytes with a low detection limit of 0.32 μM (S/N = 3), high sensitivity of 2.037 mA mM^-1 cm^-2, a linear detection range from approximately 4 μM to 7.5 mM, and good stability. Its sensitivity is about 6 times of that for commercial NiO nanoparticles and NiO/SiC nanocomposites prepared by a traditional incipient wetness impregnation method. It is revealed that the superior electrochemical ability of ALD NiO/SiC is ascribed to the strong interaction between NiO and the SiC substrate and the high dispersity of NiO nanoparticles on the SiC surface. These results suggest that ALD is an effective way to deposit NiO on SiC for nonenzymatic glucose sensing.