Single-atom catalysts enabled electrochemical sensing for glucose

Accurate and rapid monitoring of the glucose concentration in blood is essential for the prevention and treatment of diabetes. However, existing glucose sensors still have room for improvement in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, and stability. Benefiting from the fully exposed metal sites and uniform coordination environment, single-atom catalysts (SACs) have exhibited unique electrochemical sensing performances and received extensive attention in blood glucose detection. A growing number of researches have focused on the close connection between structural regulation of SACs and high efficiency glucose sensing. In this review, we start from the development of sensing devices, function materials related to glucose detection and electrochemical glucose sensing mechanisms. Then, the superiorities of SACs and a variety of SACs-based glucose sensors are proposed. The interact models between the single-atom active species and the reactants (including enzymatic and non-enzymatic environment) will be highlighted. Finally, the precise and large-scale synthesis, followed by the exploration of sensing mechanism, and concluding with opportunities and challenges of SACs in electrochemical glucose detection are outlined.