Porous nanostructured NiO thin films have been prepared in one step by magnetron sputtering in an oblique angle configuration (MS-OAD) and used as electrodes for the non-enzymatic detection of glucose. The films have been thoroughly characterized by different complementary techniques and their performance for the analysis of glucose in basic solutions determined by electrochemical methods. These electrodes presented four times higher sensitivity that equivalent compact thin films prepared by MS in a normal configuration and were superior in terms of sensitivity than majority of nickel based electrodes prepared by other methods. Finally, a high sensitivity towards detection of glucose in blood, insensitivity to common interferences, a long term stability and high reproducibility confirmed the good performance and reliability of these electrodes for practical analytical purposes. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.