Comparative studies on electrogenerated chemiluminescence of luminol on gold nanoparticle modified electrodes

Comparative studies on the electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) behavior of luminol on various electrodes modified with gold nanoparticles of different size were carried out in neutral solution by conventional cyclic voltammetry (CV). The results demonstrated that the gold nanoparticle modified electrodes could generate strong luminol ECL in neutral pH conditions. The catalytic performance of gold nanoparticle modified electrodes on luminol ECL depended not only on the gold nanoparticles but also on the substrate. Gold electrode and glassy carbon electrode were the most suitable substrates for the self-assembly of gold nanoparticles. Moreover, the gold nanoparticle modified gold and glassy carbon electrode had satisfying stability and reproducibility and did not need tedious pretreatment of electrode surface before each measurement. It was also found that luminol ECL behavior depended on the size of gold nanoparticles. The most intense ECL signals were obtained on a 16-nm-diameter gold nanoparticle modified electrode. The modified electrode prepared by the self-assembly method exhibited much better catalytic effect on luminol ECL than that prepared by the electrically deposited method. The ECL behavior of luminol on a gold nanoparticle self-assembled gold electrode was also investigated by other transient-state electrochemical techniques, such as chronoamperometry, differential pulse voltammetry, normal pulse voltammetry, and square wave voltammetry. The strongest ECL intensity was obtained under square wave voltammetric condition.