Metal oxide-based composite for non-enzymatic glucose sensors

The increasing demand for monitoring the glucose concentration in the blood of diabetic patients has aroused the attention of researchers to prepare high-performance glucose biosensors. After decades of development, enzyme-based biosensors have gradually matured and commercialized, but they still suffer from insufficient stability due to the inherent defects of the enzyme. Non-enzymatic glucose sensor was proposed to address this issue. The introduction of nanotechnology has provided more possibilities for the preparation of highly efficient catalytic materials. Among the synthesized electrocatalysts, metal oxides are one of the most important components owing to their outstanding properties. Recent studies have integrated metal oxides with other materials to further improve sensor performance. This review focuses on the application of metal oxide-based hybrid structure in the glucose sensor, mainly including metal oxide/metal oxide, metal/metal oxide, and carbon material/metal oxide. The preparation method, electrochemical properties, and catalytic mechanism of the sensors are discussed in detail. Finally, we present some of the existing challenges and make personal predictions for the future development of non-enzymatic glucose sensors.