Issue 8, 2015

3D electrogenerated chemiluminescence: from surface-confined reactions to bulk emission

Abstract

Among luminescence techniques, electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) provides a unique level of manipulation of the luminescent process by controlling the electrochemical trigger. Despite its attractiveness, ECL is by essence a 2D process where light emission is strictly confined to the electrode surface. To overcome this intrinsic limitation, we added a new spatial dimension to the ECL process by generating 3D ECL at the level of millions of micro-emitters dispersed in solution. Each single object is addressed remotely by bipolar electrochemistry and they generate collectively the luminescence in the bulk. Therefore, the entire volume of the solution produces light. To illustrate the generality of this concept, we extended it to a suspension of multi-walled carbon nanotubes where each one acts as an individual ECL nano-emitter. This approach enables a change of paradigm by switching from a surface-limited process to 3D electrogenerated light emission.

Graphical abstract: 3D electrogenerated chemiluminescence: from surface-confined reactions to bulk emission

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
27 Apr 2015
Accepted
01 Jun 2015
First published
11 Jun 2015
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 4433-4437

3D electrogenerated chemiluminescence: from surface-confined reactions to bulk emission

M. Sentic, S. Arbault, L. Bouffier, D. Manojlovic, A. Kuhn and N. Sojic, Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 4433 DOI: 10.1039/C5SC01530H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements