MOF derived core-shell CuO/C with temperature-controlled oxygen-vacancy for real time analysis of glucose

Introducing oxygen-vacancy into the surface of the non-enzymatic sensor is supposed to be an effective way to improve inherently low catalytic activity and specificity of non-enzymatic sensors. In this work, CuO/C was synthesized at different temperatures using metal-organic frameworks as sacrificial templates to receive additional content of oxygen-vacancy. The product with the highest oxygen vacancy was found at 400 °C (named CuO/C-400 °C), which increased catalytically active sites and enhanced the charge-transfer efficiency. The sensing performance was afterward explored by amperometry under an optimal applied potential at 0.5 V (vs. SCE), presenting a broad detection range from 5.0 µM to 25.325 mM (R(2) = 0.9998) with a sensitivity of 244.71 µA mM(− 1) cm(− 2), and a detection limit of 1 µM. Furthermore, the reliability and selectivity of CuO/C-400 °C sensors were extensively explored in the presence of artificial serum/saliva samples with gradient glucose concentrations. The human blood samples were also detected with high recoveries compared with the clinical Hexokinase method. Hence, the prepared CuO/C-400 °C sensor with a broad detection range and high selectivity can be applied for the diabetes diagnosis ex vivo without further dilution for real-time analysis in practical applications. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-022-01715-z.