Amine-Rich Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanodots as a Platform for Self-Enhancing Electrochemiluminescence

Abstract

Amine-richnitrogen-doped carbon nanodots(NCNDs) have been successfully used as co-reactant inelectrochemiluminescence (ECL) processes.Primary or ter-tiary amino groups on NCNDs have been studied as co-reactant sites for Ru(bpy)32+ECL, showing their eligibility aspowerful alternatives to tripropylamine (TPrA). We also reportthe synthesis and ECL behavior of anew covalently linkedhybrid of NCNDs and Ru(bpy)32+.Notably,the NCNDs in thehybrid act both as carrier for ECL labels and as co-reactant forECL generation. As aresult, the hybrid shows ahigher ECLemission as compared to the combination of the individualcomponents,suggesting the self-enhancing ECL of the ruthe-nium complex due to an intramolecular electron transferprocess