Mesoporous carbon nanospheres-assisted amplified electrochemiluminescence for l-cysteine detection

Luminol-loaded mesoporous carbon nanospheres (MCs@LU) were utilized to develop a highly sensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor for the detection of L-cysteine (L-Cys). L-Cys acted as the coreactant of luminol, and the pore confinement effect of mesoporous carbons (MCs) resulted in a robust ECL signal. Upon optimization, a linear correlation between the ECL intensity and L-Cys concentration was observed over the range of 5.0 × 10^-10 mol L^-1 to 5.0 × 10^-6 mol L^-1. The detection limit, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3, was determined to be 1.67 × 10^-10 mol L^-1. Additionally, the ECL sensor exhibited good reproducibility, stability, and selectivity for L-Cys and was successfully applied to the quantification of L-Cys in drug samples.