Surface Modified TiO2 Nanotubes with Cu Nanoparticles for Non-Enzymatic Glucose Detection and Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Application

In materials science, titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is one of the widely studied material owing to its outstanding properties, such as tunable electronic properties, good photocatalytic activity, biocompatibility, high thermal and chemical stability, etc. Over the past few years, surface-engineered Cu nanostructures on TiO₂ has been considered as one of the promising candidate in the field of gas sensing and photoelectrochemical water splitting applications. In the present study, TiO₂ nanotubes (TNTs) were fabricated via the electrochemical anodization method and subsequently their surfaces were modified with Cu nanoparticles using a UV light assisted photo-reduction method. Tubular morphology and mixed phase (anatase-rutile) of TiO₂ were confirmed through field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies. The energy dispersive spectroscopy data confirmed the deposition of Cu onto the TNT surface. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy study showed an electronic band gap of TNTs as 3.2 eV. The surface-modified TNTs samples demonstrated an enhanced sensitivity of 0.12 mA mM^–1 cm^–2 towards glucose detection and a higher photocurrent response of 0.28 mA cm^–2 compared with those of pure TNTs samples.