Exciton-plasmon interactions gated self-checking functional photoelectrochemical system for adenosine monitoring

Abstract

Current photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing system usually suffers from false-positive readout caused by the environmental factor. Herein, a PEC sensing platform with wide spectrum responsive based on exciton-plasmon interactions gated energy transfer between photoelectrode and Au NPs was designed for ultrasensitive detection of adenosine by coupling with self-checking function. Specifically, 2D black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets sensitized nanoporous BiVO4 (BiVO4-BP) acted as photoelectrode could harness light from ultraviolet to near infrared and accelerate charge separation, thus obviously promoted PEC performance. The detection mechanism was designed by controlling exciton-plasmon interaction on the influence of energy transfer between photoelectrode and dispersed Au NPs. Taking advantage of the disaggregation of Au NPs aggregates upon the addition of adenosine, which leads to a shift in the plasmonic band of the Au NPs accompanied by a color change of the solution from blue to purplish red enables a naked-eye readout semiquantitation of the adenosine. Meanwhile, the plasmonic shift gates the photocurrent response of photoelectrode for accurate quantitation of the adenosine exposure ranged from 0.1 nM to 1 μM with acceptable reliability. Enabled by the unique mechanism, this approach provides a new horizon for designing multi-functional PEC sensing platform.