| Abstract
| - Although it is desirable to use transparent indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrates as working electrodesfor electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL), their applications in ECL studies of the Ru(bpy)32+ (bpy, 2,2‘-bipyridine)/tri-n-propylamine (TPrA) system have been limited because of the large overpotential of TPrA oxidationand the instability of the ITO surface at high anodic potentials. Here, we describe a simple method to achieve highECL activity using ITO electrodes modified with gold nanoparticles (GNPs). The GNPs have been capped withfluorosurfactant ligands (i.e., Zonyl FSO). Much more facile TPrA oxidation was achieved by using the modifiedelectrode, and an intense low-oxidation-potential (LOP) ECL signal was observed at ∼0.88 V versus SCE. Theelectrode transmittance drop upon modification was generally less than 5% over the visible spectrum when small-sizedGNPs (∼4 nm) were employed. The well-preserved transparency and highly enhanced activity make the modifiedelectrode promising for ECL studies.
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