Ahmad Faisal, Xiao Yelan, Shu Tong, Zhang Guangyao, Zhang Xueji
School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Nano-Biosensing Technology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Biomedical Measurements and Ultrasound Imaging, Marshall Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Medical School, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
Research Center for Intelligent and Wearable Technology, College of Textiles and Clothing, State Key Laboratory of Bio-Fibers and Eco-Textiles, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2025 Sep 17;17(37):51796-51804. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5c12580. Epub 2025 Sep 4.
Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is rapidly emerging as an excellent electrochemical analytical technique for the specific and sensitive detection of various biomarkers and hazardous trace metals. Among ECL emitters, gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have proven to be excellent luminophores due to their remarkable luminescent properties, stability, and biocompatibility. However, the low ECL efficiency of AuNCs precludes their application in ultrasensitive biosensing. One of the key reasons for the low ECL efficiency of AuNCs is the nonradiative energy transitions arising from intramolecular vibrations and rotations of the ligands on the surface of AuNCs. Herein, we explore the ECL of Zn/Au(SG)/PDA nanoclusters (NCs), where Zn and 2,6-pyridinedicarboxaldehyde (PDA) activate the restriction of intramolecular motion (RIM) through aggregation-induced emission (AIE) to aggregation-induced enhanced emission (AIEE). This effect is achieved via cross-linking of Zn and PDA with glutathione on the surface of Au(SG), resulting in a significant enhancement of ECL emission compared to Au(SG) NCs alone. A sensitive ECL sensing system was devised with Zn/Au(SG)/PDA as the ECL emitter, with triethylamine (TEA) as the coreactant, for the detection of Cu and histidine in the linear ranges of 0.1 to 40 μM and 1 to 85 μM, respectively, with detection limits of 0.705 and 1.928 μM, respectively.
电化学发光（ECL）正迅速成为一种出色的电化学分析技术，用于特异性和灵敏地检测各种生物标志物和有害痕量金属。在ECL发光体中，金纳米团簇（AuNCs）因其卓越的发光特性、稳定性和生物相容性，已被证明是出色的发光体。然而，AuNCs的低ECL效率限制了它们在超灵敏生物传感中的应用。AuNCs的ECL效率低的关键原因之一是由于AuNCs表面配体的分子内振动和旋转引起的非辐射能量跃迁。在此，我们探索了Zn/Au（SG）/PDA纳米团簇（NCs）的ECL，其中Zn和2,6-吡啶二甲醛（PDA）通过聚集诱导发光（AIE）到聚集诱导增强发光（AIEE）来激活分子内运动限制（RIM）。这种效应是通过Zn和PDA与Au（SG）表面的谷胱甘肽交联实现的，与单独的Au（SG）NCs相比，导致ECL发射显著增强。设计了一种以Zn/Au（SG）/PDA作为ECL发光体、三乙胺（TEA）作为共反应剂的灵敏ECL传感系统，用于分别在0.1至40μM和1至85μM的线性范围内检测Cu和组氨酸，检测限分别为0.705和1.928μM。
