Synthesis and characterization of waxberry-like microstructures ZnO for biosensors

The waxberry-like ZnO microstructure composed of 8–10 nm nanorods was synthesized by a novel wet method, and characterized by using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analyses, and FT-IR spectra. In addition, the as-prepared products were co-immobilized with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) onto the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to electrochemically study the effect of the novel structure of ZnO on the catalytic activity of HRP. It was found that the waxberry-like ZnO balls acted as excellent materials for immobilization of HRP and rapid electron transfer agent for the fabrication of efficient biosensors due to their high electron conductivity, large surface area, increased oxygen vacancies, and good biocompatibility.