An electrogenerated chemiluminescence sensor based on gold nanoparticles@C60 hybrid for the determination of phenolic compounds

This paper described a novel strategy for the construction of an electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) sensor based on gold nanoparticles@C-60 (AuNPs@C-60) hybrid for detecting phenolic compounds. First, C-60 was functionalized with L-cysteine. Subsequently, with C-60 as the core, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are synthesized and grown through an in situ reduction method in the presence of ascorbic acid (AA). The resulted flowerlike AuNPs@C-60 nanoparticles were modified onto the glassy carbon electrode to achieve the sensor (AuNPs@C-60/GCE). Here, L-cysteine not only can improve the biocompatibility and hydrophilicity of C-60 but also can enhance the electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of peroxydisulfate system. Furthermore, both AuNPs and C-60 are also beneficial to the ECL of the peroxydisulfate system. Due to the combination of L-cysteine, AuNPs and C-60, the proposed ECL sensor exhibited an excellent analytical performance. Under an optimum condition, the ECL intensity increased linearly with phenolic compounds. The linear ranges of 6.2 x 10(-8)-1.2 x 10(-4) M, 5.0 x 10(-8)-1.1 X 10(-4) M and 5.0 x 10(-8)-1.1 x 10(-4) M were obtained for catechol (CC), hydroquinone (HQ) and p-cresol (PC), respectively, and the detection limits were 2.1 x 10(-8) M, 1.5 x 10(-8) M and 1.7 x 10(-8) M, respectively. The AuNPs@C-60 hybrid might hold a new opportunity to develop an ECL sensor. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.