Chapter 10: ECL Detection of Nanoparticles

When compared with photoluminescence (PL), electrogenerated chemiluminescence or electrochemiluminescence (ECL) can be a superior analytical tool in terms of sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio, due to the absence of background emissions from unexpected photoexcitation. Nanoparticles (NPs) including semiconductor NPs, metal NPs/clusters and carbon NPs are highly promising in many analytical applications, since they can produce bright and tunable ECL. In this chapter we provide a brief overview of ECL fundamentals and detection instrumentation along with the electrochemistry (EC) and optical features of various luminescent NPs. We then place emphasis on the ECL characteristics of different NPs and the influencing factors such as core size, structure, composition, ligand, charge state and solvent/electrolyte on their ECL. The current challenges and perspectives on ECL of NPs are also discussed.