Cu vacancies enhanced photoelectrochemical activity of metal-organic gel-derived CuO for the detection of L-cysteine

Abstract Defect engineering in the photoelectrochemical (PEC) process of photoelectrodes has been extensively studied. But insufficient attention has been received about the impact of metal vacancies (VM) in PEC process. Herein, the influence of Cu vacancies (VCu) on PEC performance of copper oxide (CuO) derived from Cu-based metal-organic gel (Cu-MOG) precursor was reported. It can be found that the presence of more VCu can improve the PEC activity of CuO photocathode by facilitating the charge separation and transfer. Moreover, the as-prepared CuO was presented as a new PEC sensor to detect L-cysteine (L-Cys) on the basis of the excellent PEC performance, which showed high sensitivity and selectivity. Good linear response of L-Cys within the range of 0.1–6 μM was performed with a detection limit of 0.04 μM. This work not only provides insights into the role of VM in the PEC process of photocathodes, but also proved the high potential applicability of CuO as a PEC device for biomolecule detection.