Non-enzymatic Electrochemical Sensor Behaviors of Polyaniline: Silicene Nanocomposite-A Study on Sensitive and Selective Sensor Design against Glucose

This study represents a non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor based on a Polyaniline: Silicene nanocomposite for the detection of glucose. A simple, clean and a low-cost sonication technique was used to prepare silicene nanosheets. XRD, FFT, SAED, HRTEM and FT-IR tecniques were used for characterization and CV for the detection of glucose. Current-voltage measurements were taken at various scanning rates (10–100 mV s⁻¹). The active surface areas of PANI and PANI: Silicene nanocomposite based sensors were determined as 0.122 cm² and 0.179 cm², respectively. The nanocomposite material presented large peak currents, indicating that the nanocomposite elicited enhanced electrochemical activity with the presence of silicene for glucose detection in the concentration range of 0.75–12 mM. At a scan rate of 50 mV s⁻¹, PANI-based sensor exhibited a sensitivity of 6.51 μAmM⁻¹ cm⁻² with detection limit of 5.52 μM, while the PANI: Silicene nanocomposite-based sensor exhibited a sensitivity of 20.93 μAmM⁻¹ cm⁻² with 0.43 μM detection limit. The selectivity of the sensors to measure glucose was also explored by characterizing their electrochemical performances in the presence of fructose and lactose. Due to these enhanced electrochemical performance, PANI: Silicene nanocomposite could be a promising biosensor material for glucose analysis for biomedical applications.