Investigating Electrochemiluminescence at Surface Modified Boron Doped Diamond Electrodes
At a Glance
Section titled āAt a Glanceā| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2021-05-30 |
| Journal | ECS Meeting Abstracts |
| Authors | Samuel Stewart, Emmanuel Scorsone, Matthieu Hamel |
| Institutions | CEA LIST |
| Citations | 1 |
Abstract
Section titled āAbstractāElectrochemiluminescence (ECL) is an analytical technique where chemical species generated at the surface of an electrode interact; producing an excited state, which then emits photons. The intensity of the emitted light is proportional to the concentration of the target molecule and so is quantifiable. Exploiting features of both electrochemical analysis and chemiluminescence, the use of ECL has become very popular in many fields due to the wide range of advantages it displays over other fluorescence techniques. This includes: the ability to control the exact time and position of the photon emission, the absence of background optical signal and high selectivity. ECL can be performed in organic solvents, to great effect, where the oxidized and reduced forms of the target analyte can readily be produced by sweeping from cathodic to anodic potential, or vice versa. The recombination of these two species is what produces the excited state, then resulting in a detectable ECL signal. The ability to product both of these two species becomes more difficult when moving to aqueous solutions as the relatively high and low potentials needed can cause the electrolysis of water, thus disrupting the ECL process. This is often overcome with the use of a co-reacting species, where the luminescent species are oxidized at the electrode together with the co-reactant, giving a strong reducing agent. To this effect, Boron Doped Diamond electrodes have several advantages over more conventional electrodes, including high electrochemical stability, resilience to fouling, and good optical transparency. Most importantly for ECL assays is that it possesses a wide potential window in water, meaning we have the ability to mitigate the splitting of water without the need of adding extra co-reactants to the solution. Furthermore, BDD can easily undergo many different surface modifications. Here, the analytical ECL potential of diamond will be demonstrated through comparative studies using different electrode materials. This will including the use of diamond grown on non-planer substrates - creating highly porous electrodes, the addition of sputtered transition metal nanoparticles on the surface of the electrode and changes to the surface termination of the BDD to alter its hydrophobicity.