Radiation crosslinking of acrylic acid/acrylonitrile-silver nitrate hydrogel as a sensitive glucose nanosensor

This article presents an easy method for fabricating a glucose nanosensor using copolymeric material consisting of poly(acrylonitrile and acrylic acid) saturated with AgNO3. Poly(AAc/AN)/AgNO3 is used as an efficient non-enzymatic glucose nanosensor using Tollen's reagent. The reagent consists of (-NH3) produced form alkaline hydrolysis of polyacrylonitrile and silver nitrate. Hydrolysis of polyacrylonitrile is very important in the pathway to glucose detection. The formation of Tollen's reagent causes oxidation of glucose that leads to producing silver nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles have been obtained by the reduction in silver nitrate using glucose as a reducing agent and poly(AAc/AN) as a stabilizing agent. The copolymer matrices effectively prevent the aggregation of silver nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscope show a good dispersion of silver nanoparticles with average size of 8 nm. The colored degree of the obtained poly(AAc/AN)/Ag is used as an indicator of the concentration of glucose present in urine samples. Using the degree of color scale of poly(AAc/AN)/Ag, glucose is beneficial for a person who has a high glucose level in urine. Poly(AAc/AN)/Ag sensor has become a dominant role for glucose detection in urine as well as in clinical practice.