The electrochemiluminescence (ECL) of doped silica nanoparticles (DSNPs), prepared by a reverse microemulsion method that leads to covalent incorporation of the Ru(bpy)(3)(2+), was investigated in acetonitrile and aqueous buffers. The emission was produced for the first time by cation-anion direct annihilation, and the position of ECL maxima indirectly allowed estimation of the E(1/2,IOx) and E(1/2,IRed) potentials for Ru(bpy)(3) inside DSNPs. The weak ECL emission is most likely generated by an intrananoparticle ruthenium unit annihilation rather than by the electron transfer between a reduced and oxidized DSNP due to the very low diffusivities of the nanoparticles. Thiol-terminated DSNPs were self-assembled on gold substrates, forming compact and stable monolayers which mimic probe-target assays with DSNPs as labels. The ECL intensity obtained by such functionalized substrates in aqueous media, using tripropylamine (TPrA) as coreactant, was surprisingly increased with respect to direct electrochemical oxidation because of the ability of oxidized TPrA to diffuse within the DSNPs structure and reach a higher number of emitting units with respect to direct electron tunneling. The experimental results have been explained by proposing a basic physical-chemical model which supports evaluation of the number of redox-active centers per nanoparticle. In the model the contrasting effects of increased luminescence quantum yield and decreased diffusion coefficient with respect to free (i.e., not bound within the silica structure) emitting molecules were taken into account. This allows, in principle, optimizing the ECL emission intensity as a function of DSNP size, doping material, charge, doping level, supporting electrolyte, electrode material, and solvent. Finally, it is worth noting that this study has provided a more than 1000-fold increase of the ECL signal of a chemically and electrochemically stable DSNP compared to that of a single dye, suggesting that use of this kind of nanostructures as luminescent labels represents a very promising system for ultrasensitive bioanalysis.

We report for the first time the stable electrochemiluminescence of a completely insoluble neutral Ir(III) complex in aqueous media. The strategy adopted is the encapsulation of emitting dye into silica-PEG nanoparticles. This nanoassembly by limiting water and oxygen quenching and allowing solubilization makes the electrogeneration of the excited state feasible under typical bioassay conditions.

We report a study of acid-terminated self-assembled monolayers of alkanethiols of different length, 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (11-MUA) and 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid (16-MHDA), on Au(111). Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and contact angle techniques were used for characterization, and the results were compared with those obtained from n-alkanethiols of similar chain length, providing a detailed description of the two-dimensional crystalline structure. Molecular resolution STM images show that 11-MUA forms a dense-packed monolayer arranged in a (√3 × √3)R30° structure with a c(2 × 4) superlattice, where the simple hexagonal phase, the c(2 × 4) superlattice, and nonordered areas coexist. 16-MHDA assembles in a uniform monolayer with similar morphology to that of 11-MUA, but molecular resolution could not be reached in STM due to both the hydrophilicity of the acid groups and the poor conductivity of the thick monolayer. Nevertheless, the monolayer thicknesses estimated by XPS and electrochemistry and the highly blocking character of the film observed by electrochemistry as well as the low water contact angle are consistent with 16-MHDA molecules forming a compact monolayer on the Au(111) substrate with fully extended alkyl chains and acid groups pointing away from the surface. The results obtained for 16-MHDA were reproducible under different preparation conditions such as the addition or omission of acetic acid to the ethanolic solution. Contrary to other reports, we demonstrate that ordered acid-terminated self-assembled monolayers are obtained with the same preparation conditions as those of the methyl-terminated ones, without any additional treatment.

Cationic cyclometalated iridium complexes containing two anionic phenylpyridine (ppy) ligands and the neutral bidentate triazole-pyridine ligand, 2-(1-substituted-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)pyridine (pytl), were investigated. The complexes display a rich and reversible electrochemical behavior, upon investigations by cyclic voltammetry in strictly aprotic conditions, that couples with excellent emission quantum yields and long lifetimes of the excited states. Therefore, in organic media, all complexes have generated intense green electrochemiluminescence (ECL) through the so-called annihilation procedure and, importantly, a modulation of the emission energy (to blue) has been easily obtained by simple fluorination of the ppy ligand. Finally, taking advantage of their remarkable solubility in water, intense ECL was also obtained from aqueous buffer solutions using the co-reactant method, thus making all the investigated complexes highly promising for their effective use as ECL labels in bioanalytical applications.