Lattice oxygen-stabilized Au/Cu2O heterostructures for recyclable SERS detection and simultaneous monitoring of multiple pollutants in Lake water

A recyclable Au/Cu 2 O SERS platform with lattice oxygen stabilization was prepared. • Au/Cu 2 O achieves ultra-low LODs (10 −12 –10 −13  M) for CV, MB and R6G in lake water. • The heterostructures enable the simultaneous detection of mixed organic pollutants in lake water. • Cyclic reuse enabled by photocatalytic degradation, retaining ∼89% SERS activity over four cycles. The increasing presence of organic pollutants in aquatic environments poses significant risks, and their detection and removal at trace levels in complex water systems remain challenging due to matrix interference. Herein, Au nanoparticle-decorated octahedral Cu 2 O heterostructures were fabricated via an in-situ reduction strategy as a recyclable SERS platform. The heterostructures enable ultrasensitive detection of crystal violet (CV), methylene blue (MB), and rhodamine 6G (R6G) in lake water, with detection limits of 10 −12 –10 −13  M and a maximum enhancement factor of 3.82 × 10 11 . The SERS platform exhibits good reproducibility, stability, and anti-interference capability, and allows simultaneous detection of mixed pollutants. In addition, the Cu 2 O component provides photocatalytic activity for pollutant degradation, enabling partial recovery of SERS performance over multiple cycles, with ∼89% activity retained after four cycles. Therefore, it is believed that the developed recyclable Au/Cu 2 O SERS platform holds great potential for ultrasensitive and reusable monitoring of organic pollutants in complex aqueous environments. Download: Download high-res image (193KB) Download: Download full-size image