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Dual Enhancement of Gold Nanocluster Electrochemiluminescence: Electrocatalytic Excitation and Aggregation‐Induced Emission
Author(s) -
Peng Huaping,
Huang Zhongnan,
Deng Haohua,
Wu Weihua,
Huang Kaiyuan,
Li Zhenglian,
Chen Wei,
Liu Juewen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201913445
Subject(s) - electrochemiluminescence , nanoclusters , electrochemistry , aggregation induced emission , quantum yield , photochemistry , rational design , electrode , materials science , chemistry , fluorescence , nanotechnology , physics , quantum mechanics
Ligand‐protected gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have emerged as a new class of electrochemiluminescence (ECL) luminophores for their interesting catalytic and emission properties, although their quantum yield ( Φ ECL ) in aqueous medium is low with a poor mechanistic understanding of the ECL process. Now it is shown that drying AuNCs on electrodes enabled both enhanced electrochemical excitation by an electrocatalytic effect, and enhanced emission by aggregation‐induced ECL (AIECL) for 6‐aza‐2‐thiothymine (ATT) protected AuNCs with triethylamine (TEA) as a coreactant. The dried ATT‐AuNCs/TEA system resulted in highly stable visual ECL with a Φ ECL of 78 %, and a similar enhancement was also achieved with methionine‐capped AuNCs. The drying enabled dual‐enhancement mechanism has solved a challenging mechanistic problem for AuNC ECL probes, and can guide further rational design of ECL emitters.