Dye-Doped Silica Nanoparticles for Enhanced ECL-Based Immunoassay Analytical Performance

The combination of highly sensitive techniques such as electrochemiluminescence (ECL) with nanotechnology sparked new analytical applications, in particular for immunoassay-based detection systems. In this context, nanomaterials, particularly dye-doped silica nanoparticles (DDSNPs) are of high interest, since they can offer several advantages in terms of sensitivity and performance. In this work we synthesized two sets of monodispersed and biotinylated [Ru(bpy)(3)](2+)-doped silica nanoparticles, named bio-Triton@RuNP and bio-Igepal@RuNP, obtained following the reverse microemulsion method using two different types of nonionic surfactants. Controlling the synthetic procedures, we were able to obtain nanoparticles (NPs) offering highly intense signal, using tri-n-propylamine (TPrA) as coreactant, with bio-Triton@RuNps being more efficient than bio-Igepal@RuNP.