Fabrication of hierarchical porous metallic glasses decorated with Cu nanoparticles as integrated electrodes for high-performance non-enzymatic glucose sensing

A family of novel hierarchical porous metallic glasses decorated by Cu nanoparticles (PMGs & Cu-NPs) was synthesized through one-pot pulse anodization method on Zr₆₅Cu₂₂Al₈Fe₅ metallic-glass plates. The typical hierarchical porous morphology with two-levels pores in size of 9.74±2.4 μm and 1.41±0.41 μm was characterized for the samples pulse-anodized for 1800 s with a pulse period of 5 s etching and 10 s delay in 3.0 wt.% NaCl solution. Plenty of in-situ Cu nanoparticles in the size of 43.74±11.07 nm were loaded in the hierarchical porous structure. The integrated electrode constructed on the hierarchical PMG & Cu-NPs exhibits prominent performance towards the electrocatalystic oxidation of glucose with a high sensitivity of 2520 μAmM⁻¹cm⁻², wide linear detection range of 0.25-14 mM, fast response time of <1 s, excellent anti-interference performance and good time stability, which is significant for the application of non-enzymatic glucose catalysis.