TY - JOUR AB - Purpose This paper aims to report a prototype of a reliable method for rapid, sensitive bacterial detection by using a low-cost zinc oxide nanorods (ZnONRs)-based electrochemical sensor.Design/methodology/approach The ZnONRs have been grown on the surface of a disposable, miniaturized working electrode (WE) using the low-temperature hydrothermal technique. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectroscopy have been performed to characterize the distribution as well as the chemical composition of the ZnONRs on the surface, respectively. Moreover, the cyclic voltammetry test has been implemented to assess the effect of the ZnONRs on the signal conductivity between −1 V and 1 V with a scan rate of 0.01 V/s. Likewise, the effect of using different bacterial concentrations in phosphate-buffered saline has been investigated.Findings The morphological characterization has shown a highly distributed ZnONR on the WE with uneven alignment. Also, the achieved response time was about 12 minutes and the lower limit of detection was approximately 103 CFU abbreviation for Colony Forming Unit/mL.Originality/value This paper illustrates an outcome of an experimental work on a ZnONRs-based electrochemical biosensor for direct detection of bacteria. VL - 38 IS - 3 SN - 0260-2288 DO - 10.1108/SR-06-2017-0117 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/SR-06-2017-0117 AU - Al-Fandi Mohamed Ghazi AU - Alshraiedeh Nid’a Hamdan AU - Oweis Rami Joseph AU - Hayajneh Rawan Hassan AU - Alhamdan Iman Riyad AU - Alabed Rama Adel AU - Al-Rawi Omar Farhan PY - 2018 Y1 - 2018/01/01 TI - Direct electrochemical bacterial sensor using ZnO nanorods disposable electrode T2 - Sensor Review PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 326 EP - 334 Y2 - 2024/04/19 ER -