Recent Progress of Novel Electrochemiluminescence Nanoprobes and Their Analytical Applications

Abstract

High-performance nanomaterials have been seen as a new generation of electrochemiluminescence (ECL) probes or emitters for their finely tunable structure and concomitant remarkable properties, guaranteeing the prospective applications in the analysis and diagnosis devices with superior performances. The structure-activity relationships of ECL nanoprobes in nanoscale are presenting milestone in understanding of the ECL microscopic behaviors and mechanisms, and guide the exploitation of novel ECL probes. In this mini-review, we summarized the recent development of novel ECL probes based on the nanomaterials. The mechanism and relationships between their structure as well as the active sites and functionality were revealed. In addition, the design and regulation of the ECL nanoprobes were emphasized for the biosensing and imaging application. Finally, the potential prospect of the ECL nanoprobes, design, and their applications were discussed.

Keywords: biosensing; electrochemiluminescence; imaging; nanomaterials; structure-properties relationship.

FIGURE 1

(A) ECL spectrum of CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell QDs working with S₂O₈ ^2-. Reproduced from Cao et al. (2020) (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.0c00484) with permission. Copyright 2020 American Chemical Society. Further permissions related to the material excerpted should be directed to the ACS.(B) The demonstration of vacancy point defect (VD), anti-site defect (AD), and Mn²⁺ precise doping within Cd–In–S ECL nanoprobes. Reproduced from Wang et al. (2016) with permission. Copyright 2016 American Chemical Society. (C) The diagram of ECL emission from 25-atom AuAg nanoclusters and corresponding energy transfer. Reproduced from Chen S et al. (2019) with permission. Copyright 2019 American Chemical Society.

FIGURE 2

(A) General setup of ECL microscope which was used by Ma et al. (2020) to study ECL blinking, (b)–(d) was ECL image, FL imaging and SEM imaging of HCNSs. (B) Two single HCNSs were picked to show the ECL blinking phenomena via ECL intensity vs. time graph and the ECL ON/OFF states were stated. (A) and (B) were reproduced from Ma et al. (2020) with permission. Copyright 2020 American Chemical Society. (C) ECL imaging and intensity showed the collision mode of nanoprobes as “spike” or “staircase.” Reproduced from Ma et al. (2018) with permission. Copyright the Royal Society of Chemistry 2018.