A ternary nanooxide NiO-TiO₂-ZrO₂/SO₄²⁻ as efficient solid superacid catalysts for electro-oxidation of glucose

Highlights: • Solid superacid catalysts NiO-TiO₂-ZrO₂/SO₄²⁻ was synthesized by a facile method. • NiO-TiO₂-ZrO₂/SO₄²⁻ nanocatalyst has high activity for electro-oxidation of glucose. • Catalytic current density of NiO-TiO₂-ZrO₂/SO₄²⁻ increased 27% compared with NiO. - Abstract: A ternary composite of NiO and TiO₂-ZrO₂/SO₄²⁻ solid superacid were synthesized and investigated as efficient anode catalysts for glucose electrooxidation. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), the precursors were found to convert into corresponding nanooxides. They were well dispersed with a size of approximate 70 nm. The nanostructure was also analyzed by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed that NiO-TiO₂-ZrO₂ nanooxides were modified by SO₄²⁻ and solid superacid NiO-TiO₂-ZrO₂/SO₄²⁻ have been synthesized. The electrochemical measurements indicated that, compared with NiO, the current density of NiO-TiO₂-ZrO₂/SO₄²⁻ modified GC electrode increased 27% in 0.1 M NaOH solution with 10 mM glucose. Moreover, the kinetic results showed that the glucose electrooxidation on NiO-TiO₂-ZrO₂/SO₄²⁻ is a surface controlling process. In a word, NiO-TiO₂-ZrO₂/SO₄²⁻ nanoparticles possessed high catalytic activity and good stability in alkaline medium for glucose oxidation reaction (GOR).