Pd (IV)-doped CuO oxide composite nanofibers (PCNFs) have been successfully fabricated via electrospinning and then employed to construct an amperometric non-enzymatic glucose sensor. The PCNFs based glucose sensors display distinctly enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of glucose, showing significantly lower overvoltage (0.32 V) and ultrafast (1 s) and ultrasensitive current (1061.4 mu A mM(-1) cm(-2)) response with a lower detection limit of 1.9 x 10(-8) M (S/N = 3). Additionally, excellent selectivity, reproducibility and stability have also been obtained. These results indicate that PCNFs are promising candidates for amperometric non-enzymatic glucose detection. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.