Electrochemiluminescence Sensor Technologies

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor technologies exploit voltage‐induced redox reactions at electrode interfaces to generate light and report on chemical or biological events with exceptional sensitivity and low background interference. By combining electrochemical control with luminescent transduction, ECL sensors have found widespread application in medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring and food safety. Advances in electrode materials, signal‐amplification strategies and novel luminophores have driven significant improvements in detection limits, dynamic range and multiplexing capability. Integration of nanostructured materials—such as quantum dots, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and metal–organic frameworks—has further enhanced brightness, stability and surface area for analyte binding. Recent trends include the design of self‐enhanced luminophores that incorporate both light‐emitting and coreactant functions in a single molecule, the exploitation of exciplex pathways to prolong operational lifetime, and the deployment of nanozymes for catalytic signal amplification. Together, these developments are shaping a new generation of portable, high‐throughput and highly selective ECL sensors for global health and industrial applications.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Fundamental mechanistic studies have uncovered alternative coreactant pathways that occur in close proximity to the electrode surface, leading to more than 100 % enhancement in ECL signal and opening avenues for ultrasensitive bioanalysis. An innovative combination of imaging techniques and radical mapping led to the identification of branched amine coreactants that outperform conventional systems without compromising stability. Parallel efforts in lumiphore design have focused on covalent organic frameworks. Olefin‐linked donor–acceptor COFs have been engineered to confine both electron donor and acceptor units within a rigid network, producing efficient intramolecular charge transfer and strong ECL emission without the need for poisonous co‐reactants. Building on this, donor–acceptor COFs featuring triphenylamine and triazine units demonstrate tunable intrareticular charge transfer (IRCT), whereby modulation of crystallinity and protonation state yields dual‐peaked ECL patterns via competitive oxidation mechanisms. These studies collectively provide a blueprint for rationally designing next‐generation ECL luminophores with finely controlled emission profiles and enhanced analytical strength.

Research from all publishers

In solution‐state ECL devices, an exciplex‐based emission pathway has been shown to mitigate the deleterious effects of radical ions. High concentrations of donor and acceptor molecules recombine as an exciplex upon redox cycling, transferring energy to a dye without involving its oxidation, and achieving luminance above 3 700 cd m^–2 alongside a 30‐fold longer operational lifetime. A separate approach employs atomically dispersed peroxidase‐like nanozymes within a MOF‐on‐MOF architecture to catalyse the luminol–H₂O₂ system via a Fenton‐like mechanism. Synergistic effects between CoNi‐MOF@PCN‐224/Fe sites and plasmonic Ag/Au core–satellite nanocubes yield a 17-fold increase in ECL intensity and enable immunoassays with detection limits in the sub-picogram per millilitre range. Finally, semiconductor materials have been harnessed both as electrode substrates and as bright, tuneable nano‐emitters. Quantum dots and nanocrystals integrated into ECL platforms offer adjustable emission wavelengths and high photostability, while bulk semiconductors enable light-addressable and three-dimensional devices for sensing, imaging and infrared applications.

Electrochemiluminescence Sensor Technologies publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in electrochemiluminescence sensor technologies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL): Light emission triggered by electrochemical redox reactions at electrode surfaces, used for sensitive analytical detection.

Luminophore: A molecule or material that emits light upon excitation, central to ECL signal generation.

Coreactant: A chemical species that participates in the electrochemical reaction, producing reactive intermediates that excite the luminophore.

Covalent Organic Framework (COF): A crystalline, porous polymer network formed by strong covalent bonds, used to host and confine ECL-active units.

Exciplex: An excited‐state complex formed between an electron donor and acceptor, which can transfer energy to a luminophore without direct oxidation.

Nanozyme: A nanomaterial with enzyme-like catalytic activity, employed to amplify electrochemical and luminescent signals.

Intrareticular Charge Transfer (IRCT): Charge migration between donor and acceptor units within a framework, governing ECL efficiency and emission profile.

References

1. An Exciplex‐Based Light‐Emission Pathway for Solution‐State Electrochemiluminescent Devices. Advanced Materials (2023).
2. Atomically Fe‐anchored MOF‐on‐MOF nanozyme with differential signal amplification for ultrasensitive cathodic electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Exploration (2023).
3. Electrochemiluminescence with semiconductor (nano)materials. Chemical Science (2022).
4. Insights into the mechanism of coreactant electrochemiluminescence facilitating enhanced bioanalytical performance. Nature Communications (2020).
5. A general design approach toward covalent organic frameworks for highly efficient electrochemiluminescence. Nature Communications (2021).
6. Intrareticular charge transfer regulated electrochemiluminescence of donor–acceptor covalent organic frameworks. Nature Communications (2021).
7. Self-enhanced multicolor electrochemiluminescence by competitive electron-transfer processes. Chemical Science (2020).