Abstract
Metal nanoclusters (NCs), including Au, Ag, Cu, Pt, Ni and alloy NCs, have become more and more popular sensor probes with good solubility, biocompatibility, size-dependent luminescence and catalysis. The development of electrochemiluminescent (ECL) and chemiluminescent (CL) analytical methods based on various metal NCs have become research hotspots. To improve ECL and CL performances, many strategies are proposed, from metal core to ligand, from intermolecular electron transfer to intramolecular electron transfer. Combined with a variety of amplification technology, i.e., nanostructure-based enhancement and biological signal amplification, highly sensitive ECL and CL analytical methods are developed. We have summarized the research progresses since 2016. Also, we discuss the current challenges and perspectives on the development of this area.
Highlights
Metal nanoclusters (NCs), comprising only a few to roughly hundreds of metal atoms, have a metal core-protective agent shell structure
They have attracted a great deal of research in the applications of cellular imaging and chemical/biological detection owing to small size, excellent biocompatibility, good stability, distinctive catalytical activity, optical and electrochemical properties [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
We introduce recent research progress in the ECL and CL of metal NCs
Summary
Metal nanoclusters (NCs), comprising only a few to roughly hundreds of metal atoms, have a metal core-protective agent shell structure. Metal NCs are deemed to bridge the gap between molecules and nanoparticles In recent years, they have attracted a great deal of research in the applications of cellular imaging and chemical/biological detection owing to small size, excellent biocompatibility, good stability, distinctive catalytical activity, optical and electrochemical properties [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. In 2011, Chen’s group and Zhu’s group found that Au NCs/triethylamine (TEA) system and Au NCs/potassium persulfate system had ECL phenomenon, respectively [9,10,11] Based on these, they established new methods for the determination of Pb2+ , dopamine and hydrogen peroxide. Yuan et al realized the highly sensitive detection of phenols, microRNAs and dopamine with Au, Ag, and Cu NCs as ECL probes and potassium persulfate or hydrazine as coreactants [12,13,14]
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