Enhancing Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence on Platinum Electrodes through Surface Modification

Increasing the light emission of electrogenerated chemiluminescence is an important goal for enhancing the sensitivity for potential practical applications. Electrogenerated chemiluminescence is primarily triggered by a heterogeneous electron transfer reaction, for which the electrode material plays a pivotal role. We investigated how a platinum electrode, one of the most used but poorly efficient noble metal electrode materials in electrogenerated chemiluminescence, can be modified to enhance light emission. A polypyrrole layer was deposited on the platinum electrode through electrochemically induced polymerization, and subsequently pyrolyzed with the formation of a carbonaceous film. Electrochemiluminescence of the [Ru(bpy)3]2+/tri-n-propylamine system on such carbon film electrodes showed an enhancement of up to a 4 times increase, as compared with the bare platinum electrode.