Electrochemical method has been employed in this work to modify nitrogen-doped hydrogen amorphous diamond-like carbon (N-DLC) film to fabricate nickel nano-particle-modified N-DLC electrodes. The electrochemical behavior of the nickel nano-particle-modified N-DLC electrodes has been characterized at the presence of glucose in electrolyte. Meanwhile, the N-DLC film structure and the morphology of metal nano-particles on the N-DLC surface have been investigated using micro-Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The nickel nano-particle-modified N-DLC electrode exhibits a high catalytic activity and low background current. This result shows that the nickel nano-particle deposition on N-DLC surface could be a promising method to fabricate novel electrode materials for glucose sensing. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.