One-pot self-assembled two-dimensional Ni/Ni3C/C3N4 nanosheets with highly efficient glucose oxidation for fuel cell and sensing applications

As the main reaction in both the glucose fuel cells and sensors, glucose oxidation reaction (GOR) is vital to their properties. In this work, we present a highly efficient GOR catalyst with two-dimensional sheet-like structures, which was prepared through one-pot self-assembled process. The as prepared Ni/Ni3C/C3N4 nanosheets with thickness less than 50 nm were composed of many Ni/Ni3C nanoparticles less than 5 nm anchoring on C3N4 sheets. Electrochemical characterizations confirmed that Ni/Ni3C/C3N4 nanosheets have the excellent GOR performance. The glucose fuel cells equipped with Ni/Ni3C/C3N4 nanosheets anodes (599.68 μW·cm−2) displayed greater power density than that of Ni, Ni3C, and C3N4 with the maximum power density obtained at 0.41 V. Moreover, the superior non-enzymatic glucose sensing performance was also obtained on Ni/Ni3C/C3N4 nanosheets electrodes, including high sensitivity (395.08μA.mM−2.cm−2 in range of 0–1000 μM and 163.64μA.mM−2.cm−2 in range of 1000 μM - 12000 μM), low detection limit (0.33 μM), good stability and repeatability. The high performance of Ni/Ni3C/C3N4 nanosheets may be due to the fast charge and mass transfer originating from the synergistic effect of Ni/Ni3C and C3N4 nanosheets.