Chapter 14: An Introduction to Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence Check Access
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Published:20 Oct 2011
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Special Collection: RSC eTextbook CollectionProduct Type: Textbooks
Inorganic Electrochemistry Theory, Practice and Application, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2nd edn, 2011, ch. 14, pp. 657-667.
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Chapter 14 illustrates the fundamentals of electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL), i.e. the process in which species generated at an electrode surface spontaneously undergo electron-transfer reactions able to generate light-emitting excited states. The conditions required to observe ECL emission, as well as the feasible pathways for generating photons, have been reviewed by a basic and simple approach. Concepts like quantum efficiency and ECL quantum efficiency are introduced and discussed. Two main ECL mechanisms are illustrated: annihilation and co-reactant pathways. The use of co-reactant and its role is discussed, in particular the interaction of tripropylamine with [Ru(bpy)3]2+, the most widely employed co-reactant and luminophore system for ECL measurements.
fig2: Basic setup for ECL measurements. PMT=photomultiplier tube.fig3: (a) Cyclic voltammogram and (b) ECL emission of an aqueous solution (pH 8) containing [Ru(bpy)3]2+ and TPA in a ratio of about nm : m; scan rate 0.05 V s−1.