Smartphone-based label-free photoelectrochemical sensing of cysteine with cadmium ion chelation

Abstract

As an important amino acid, cysteine is related to the development of various diseases. The quantitative detection of cysteine is of great significance for both disease diagnosis and treatment. The current labeling methods mainly rely on fluorescent probes, making it difficult for quantitative cysteine detection in point-of-care testing (POCT). In this study, we proposed a label-free method for cysteine quantification by novel photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing using a specific ion chelation probe. An indium tin oxide electrode loaded with nanoscale graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) was used as the PEC electrode and gold nanoparticle modification was performed to further promote the charge transfer efficiency for enhanced photocurrent detection. Cadmium ions (Cd²⁺) were employed as the specific ion chelation probe for cysteine detection, and the formed Cd²⁺/cysteine chelate complex served as the electron acceptor for sensitive PEC sensing under low-power LED illumination. A portable PEC system was developed for quantitative detection of cysteine by integrating the PEC sensor, a self-designed detection circuit and a smartphone. The detected photocurrents changed linearly with the cysteine concentrations ranging from 0 μM to 40 μM, and the limit of detection is calculated to be 9.2 μM. To demonstrate the capability of this system, cysteine in spiked urine samples was quantified with a recovery rate of 96.1%–100.57%. This system provides high portability, sufficient accuracy and sensitivity, and greatly reduces the complexity and cost of point-of-care cysteine detection.