LAUSR

Abstract Co-based compounds, especially cobalt oxides, have been widely employed as the non-enzyme catalysts for the electro-oxidation of glucose. In this work, we designed a solution-combustion and subsequent heat-treating route to successfully prepare Co-CoO-Co3O4 nanocomposites. Co-CoO nanocomposites were first obtained in one step via a simple solution-combustion method, employing CoCl2 as the Co source, oxygen in air as the oxygen source, and ethanol as the solvent and fuel; and then, the freshly-prepared Co-CoO nanocomposites were annealed in air at 300–600 °C for 2 h. Experiments showed that the annealing temperature strongly affected the component of the final product. Co-CoO-Co3O4 nanocomposites were produced at 300 and 400 °C; CoO-Co3O4 nanocomposites were obtained at 500 °C; and Co3O4 nanoparticles were formed at 600 °C. The above annealed products were labeled as T3, T4, T5 and T6. Electrochemical measurements showed that Co-CoO nanocomposite and its annealed products presented good electrochemical properties and could be employed as catalysts for the non-enzyme electro-oxidation of glucose. Among them, T4 sample (Co-CoO-Co3O4 nanocomposites) possessed the best electrocatalytic activity. The as-prepared T4/GCE sensor showed rapid response time (