Investigating a quartz crystal microbalance sensor functionalized with MXene-Cu/Cu2O/C nanocomposites for glucose detection

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the morphology of the MOF/MXene-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor surface and evaluated its hydrophilicity at different glucose concentrations (3–10 mM). The surface of the QCM sensor was coated with MXene-Cu/Cu₂O/C nanocomposites to design an inexpensive sensing system for real-time monitoring of glucose. The designed QCM sensor has a good linearity in the glucose concentration range of 3–10 mM and a low detection limit of 1.70 mM. Moreover, Cu MOF/MXene exhibits high sensitivity at blood glucose concentration levels, excellent stability, rapid response, and recovery. The QCM sensor has the potential to function as a sensitive glucose probe for continuous glucose monitoring, fulfilling the requirements for glucose detection in clinical analysis, where the typical glucose level in human blood is 4–7.8 mM. Additionally, the morphology, nanostructure, and elemental composition of MXene-Cu/CuO/C nanocomposite materials were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and contact angle measurements.