We report a non-enzymatic glucose sensor that is based on a gold micropillar array electrode and was fabricated by using a combination of photolithographic techniques and electroplating. The electrode exhibits (a) a larger electroactive area, (b) enhanced surface roughness, and (c) enhanced catalytic activity toward the electro-oxidation of glucose. We demonstrate its potential application in sensing glucose with high operational stability, high sensitivity and relatively high selectivity. The response to glucose is linear in the 0.5 to 9 mM concentration range, the sensitivity is 13.2 μA mM −1 cm −2 , and the detection limit is 60 μM. The simplicity of the sensor preparation makes gold micropillar array electrodes a good candidate for easy glucose determinations. Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem. It increases worldwide at an alarming rate, mainly due to aging, unhealthy diets, obesity and sedentary lifestyles. 1 Each year, 3.2 million people around the world die from complications associated with diabetes. It has been estimated that 366 million people will suffer from this disease in 2030. 2 Diabetic community have a much greater risk of heart disease and stroke, hypertension, blindness, kidney disease, amputation, complications in pregnancy, depression and peripheral vascular diseases. 3 This metabolic disorder results from insulin deficiency and hyperglycemia and is reflected by blood glucose concentrations higher or lower than the normal range of 80-120 mg dL −1 (4.4-6.6 mM).Rapid, selective and reliable methods for the determination of glucose in blood are of the utmost importance for diabetes screening and treatment. For this reason, the development of glucose sensors has driven enormous research efforts for several decades. In fact, electrochemical glucose biosensors account for about 85% of the entire biosensor market. The majority of available glucose sensors are based on the catalytic oxidation of glucose by the enzyme glucose 1-oxidase (GOx), which reduces O 2 to hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and produces gluconic acid in presence of glucose. The firstgeneration glucose biosensors are based on the use of natural oxygen substrate and on the electrochemical detection of the produced H 2 O 2 . 4, 5 The second-generation glucose biosensors use mediators (ferrocene, ferro/ferricyanide, hydroquinone and other redox organic dyes) to enhance the electron transfer between the enzyme and the electrode. 6, 7 The third-generation glucose biosensors are reagentless and based on direct electron transfer between the enzyme and the electrode without mediators. This direct transfer is accomplished by linking the active redox sites of the enzyme to the electrode. 8, 9 All these enzymatic biosensors based on GOx have good selectivity and high sensitivity. However, they present the serious disadvantage of lacking long-term stability originated from the nature of the enzyme. Biosensors based on enzymes are exposed to thermal and chemical variations during fabrication, storage and use, which can damage the ...
