Highly Efficient Wavelength-Resolved Electrochemiluminescence of Carbon Nitride Films for Ultrasensitive Multiplex MicroRNA Detection.

The development of electrochemiluminescence (ECL) emitters of different colors with high ECL efficiency (Φ) is appealing yet challenging for ultrasensitive multiplexed bioassays. Herein, we report the synthesis of highly efficient polymeric carbon nitride (CN) films with fine-tuned ECL emission from blue to green (410, 450, 470, and 525 nm) using the precursor crystallization method. More importantly, naked eye-observable and significantly enhanced ECL emission was achieved, and the cathodic Φ values were ca. 112, 394, 353, and 251 times those of the aqueous Ru(bpy)Cl/KSO reference. Mechanism studies showed that the density of surface-trapped electrons, the associated nonradiative decay pathways, and electron-hole recombination kinetics were crucial factors for the high Φ of CN. Based on high Φ and different colors of ECL emission, the wavelength-resolved multiplexing ECL biosensor was constructed to simultaneously detect miRNA-21 and miRNA-141 with superior low detection limits of 0.13 fM and 25.17 aM, respectively. This work provides a facile method to synthesize wavelength-resolved ECL emitters based on metal-free CN polymers with high Φ for multiplexed bioassays.