Bright electrochemiluminescent films of efficient aggregation-induced emission luminogens for sensitive detection of dopamine

Abstract

The development of electrochemiluminescent (ECL) luminogens is of great importance for sensitive detection of biomolecules in various applications. Herein, two efficient red luminogens bearing benzothiadiazole and arylamino moieties, namely BTD-TPA and BTD-NPA, have been synthesized through one-step Suzuki reaction. They show aggregation-induced emission (AIE) features with high fluorescence quantum efficiency and reversible redox pairs with high stability. Taking advantage of these merits, bright ECL non-doped films are achieved based on the AIE luminogens. Interestingly, the ECL intensity of the films is proportional to the film thickness, which enables the optimization of their brightness through the variation of luminogen loading. Furthermore, the bright ECL films are utilized for sensitive detection of dopamine (DA) with a broad linear range (0.05–350 μM) and a low detection limit of 17.0 nM. Such bright ECL films provide an ideal platform for sensitive analysis of important biomolecules with high selectivity.