A comparative study of electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose on conductive Ni-MOF nanosheet arrays with different ligands

In this study, we report the first use of conductive Ni-based metal–organic framework nanosheet arrays on conductive carbon cloth (Ni-MOF NSAs/CC) as a non-noble-metal catalyst for efficient electro-oxidation of glucose in alkaline electrolyte. Compared with a series of ligands coordinated with nickel salt, 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaaminotriphenylene hexahydrochloride is selected as the best ligand to synthesize Ni-MOF, which has the highest electrocatalytic activity for glucose oxidation. The three-dimensional Ni-MOF NSAs/CC electrode as multifunctional sensors is used to detect glucose with a wide linear range, a low detection limit, a high sensitivity and excellent selectivity, stability and reproducibility. For glucose detection, the established sensor shows a wide linear range, a low detection limit of 0.57 μM (S/N=3), a high sensitivity of 13428.89 μA mM-1 cm-2 and good selectivity. These results demonstrate that the as-prepared conductive Ni-MOF NSAs/CC have great applications in the development of sensors for clinical medical testing.