Infrared photoinduced electrochemiluminescence microscopy of single cells

Abstract

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is evolving rapidly from a purely analytical technique into a powerful microscopy. Herein, we report the imaging of single cells by photoinduced ECL (PECL; λ_em = 620 nm) stimulated by an incident near-infrared light (λ_exc = 1050 nm). The cells were grown on a metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) n-Si/SiO_x/Ir photoanode that exhibited stable and bright PECL emission. The large anti-Stokes shift allowed for the recording of well-resolved images of cells with high sensitivity. PECL microscopy is demonstrated at a remarkably low onset potential of 0.8 V; this contrasts with classic ECL, which is blind at this potential. Two imaging modes are reported: (i) photoinduced positive ECL (PECL+), showing the cell membranes labeled with the [Ru(bpy)₃]²⁺ complex; and (ii) photoinduced shadow label-free ECL (PECL−) of cell morphology, with the luminophore in the solution. Finally, by adding a new dimension with the near-infrared light stimulus, PECL microscopy should find promising applications to image and study single photoactive nanoparticles and biological entities.