Quantification of electrogenerated chemiluminescence from tris(bipyridine)ruthenium(ii) and hydroxyl ions

Abstract

In this work, we quantify the electrogenerated chemiluminescence arising from the reaction of electrogenerated tris(bipyridine)ruthenium(III) with hydroxyl ions, in terms of emission intensity and reaction rate. Different electrode materials (glassy carbon and boron-doped diamond) and different supporting electrolytes (perchlorate, phosphate, and carbonate) were investigated with pH variation. Relative quantification of the electrogenerated chemiluminescence was achieved using the Ru(bpy)₃²⁺/tri-n-propylamine system, taken as a reference, with relative emission as low as 600 and 230 times that observed at the same coreactant concentration and the same pH, respectively. The kinetics was investigated by foot of the wave analysis of cyclic voltammetry to measure the turnover frequency of the reaction.