Rationally designed hierarchical hollow ZnCdS@MoS2 heterostructured cages with efficient separation of photogenerated carriers for photoelectrochemical aptasensing of lincomycin

•Hierarchical hollow ZnCdS@MoS2 heterostructured cages were firstly designed and synthesized.•ZnCdS@MoS2-based PEC aptasensor exhibited superior sensing performances for the detection of lincomycin.•ZnCdS@MoS2 heterostructured cages exhibited remarkable PEC activity.•This work opens an avenue for the design and synthesis of MOF-derived novel heterostructures. The construction of heterostructures is considered as an effective strategy to facilitate migration of photogenerated carriers and boost the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performances. Herein, a novel hierarchical hollow ZnCdS@MoS2 heterostructured cages derived from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were synthesized by solvothermal and hydrothermal methods. The morphology of MoS2 grown on the surface of ZnCdS polyhedral cages could be well-controlled by changing the experimental conditions. Under visible light irradiation, compared with pristine ZnCdS and MoS2, the PEC response of the ZnCdS@MoS2 was enhanced by 3.1-fold and 47.3-fold, respectively. The enhanced PEC properties were ascribed to the synergy between tailored hierarchical hollow structure and close contact heterojunction interface, which can promote visible-light harvesting, accelerate charge migration, and curb recombination of photogenerated carriers. Benefiting from the remarkable PEC performance of hierarchical hollow ZnCdS@MoS2 heterostructured cages, a label-free PEC aptasensor platform was constructed for lincomycin detection with excellent selectivity and sensitivity. The developed PEC aptasensor displayed a wide liner response of 1×10−10 to 3 × 10-7 mol L-1 with a low detection limit of 7.6 × 10-11 mol L-1. This work demonstrates the marvelous potential of hierarchical hollow ZnCdS@MoS2 heterostructured cages in PEC sensing applications. Most importantly, this work opens an avenue for the design and synthesis of MOF-derived novel heterostructures.