In-situ fabrication of 3D flower-like NH4NiPO4 on Ni foam without nickel salts added for high sensitive nonenzymatic glucose detection

Highlights: • The 3D-flowerlike NH₄NiPO₄ grown directly on the Ni foam without nickel salts added. • The 3D-flowerlike NH₄NiPO₄ assembled by sheet-like crystals (stacked by nanoflakes). • The NH₄NiPO_4/Ni foam exhibited a low detection limit of 0.015 μM. • The electrode showed high sensitivity (6135 and 2205 μA mM⁻¹ cm^-2). - Abstract: The 3D flower-like NH₄NiPO₄ was successfully fabricated on nickel foam via one-step hydrothermal route without nickel salts added. In our design, nickel ions were originated from the acid corrosion of nickel foam, which decreased the concentration of nickel ion in the solution and effectively control the environmental pollution. The 3D flowers-like NH₄NiPO₄ was arranged on the Ni foam, and the 3D flower-like structures were assembled by sheet-like crystals with an average thickness of 380 nm. Furthermore, the sheet-like crystals are also stacked by many layers of nanoflakes. The 3D flower-like NH₄NiPO₄ modified Ni foam can be used as a binder-free electrode for non-enzymatic glucose detection. And the electrode exhibits excellent electrochemical properties with high sensitivity (6135 μA mM⁻¹ Cm^-2 and 2205 μA mM⁻¹ Cm⁻²), wide linear range (covered from 0.001–1 mM and 2–5 mM) and a low detection limit of 0.015 (3S/N) at an applied bias of 0.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl.