Electrochemiluminescence Imaging Techniques for Analysis and Visualizing

Efficient Electrochemiluminescence Sensing in Microfluidic Biosensors: A Review

Microfluidic devices are capable of handling 10-9 L to 10-18 L of fluids by incorporating tiny channels with dimensions of ten to hundreds of micrometers, and they can be fabricated using a wide range of materials including glass, silicon, polymers, paper, and cloth for tailored sensing applications. Microfluidic biosensors integrated with detection methods such as electrochemiluminescence (ECL) can be used for the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases. Coupled with ECL, these tandem devices are capable of sensing biomarkers at nanomolar to picomolar concentrations, reproducibly. Measurement at this low level of concentration makes microfluidic electrochemiluminescence (MF-ECL) devices ideal for biomarker detection in the context of early warning systems for diseases such as myocardial infarction, cancer, and others. However, the technology relies on the nature and inherent characteristics of an efficient luminophore. The luminophore typically undergoes a redox process to generate excited species which emit energy in the form of light upon relaxation to lower energy states. Therefore, in biosensor design the efficiency of the luminophore is critical. This review is focused on the integration of microfluidic devices with biosensors and using electrochemiluminescence as a detection method. We highlight the dual role of carbon quantum dots as a luminophore and co-reactant in electrochemiluminescence analysis, drawing on their unique properties that include large specific surface area, easy functionalization, and unique luminescent properties.

Application and outlook of electrochemical technology in single-cell analysis

Cellular heterogeneity, especially in some important diseased cells like tumor cells, acts as an invisible driver for disease development like cancer progression in the tumor ecosystem, contributing to differences in the macroscopic and microscopic detection of disease lesions like tumors. Traditional analysis techniques choose group information masked by the mean as the analysis sample, making it difficult to achieve precise diagnosis and target treatment, on which could be shed light via the single-cell level determination/bioanalysis. Hence, in this article we have reviewed the special characteristic differences among various kinds of typical single-cell bioanalysis strategies and electrochemical techniques, and then focused on the recent advance and special bio-applications of electrochemiluminescence and micro-nano electrochemical sensing mediated in single-cell bioimaging & bioanalysis. Especially, we have summarized the relevant research exploration of the possibility to establish the in-situ single-cell electrochemical methods to detect cell heterogeneity through determination of specific biomolecules and bioimaging of some important biological processes. Eventually, this review has explored some important advances of electrochemical single-cell detection techniques for the real-time cellular bioimaging and diagnostics of some disease lesions like tumors. It raises the possibility to provide the specific in-situ platform to exploit the versatile, sensitive, and high-resolution electrochemical single-cell analysis for the promising biomedical applications like rapid tracing of some disease lesions or in vivo bioimaging for precise cancer theranostics.

Paper-based bipolar electrode electrochemiluminescence sensors for point-of-care testing

In the past few years, point-of-care testing (POCT) technology has crossed the boundaries of laboratory determination and entered the stage of practical applications. Herein, the latest advances and principal issues in the design and fabrication of paper-based bipolar electrode electrochemiluminescence (BPE-ECL) sensors, which are widely used in the POCT field, are highlighted. After introducing the attractive physical and chemical properties of cellulose paper, various approaches aimed at enhancing the functions of the paper, and their underlying principles are described. The materials typically employed for fabricating paper-based BPE are also discussed in detail. Subsequently, the universal method of enhancing BPE-ECL signal and improving detection accuracy is put forward, and the ECL detector widely used is introduced. Furthermore, the application of paper-based BPE-ECL sensors in biomedical, food, environmental and other fields are displayed. Finally, future opportunities and the remaining challenges are analyzed. It is expected that more design concepts and working principles for paper-based BPE-ECL sensors will be developed in the near future, paving the way for the development and application of paper-based BPE-ECL sensors in the POCT field and providing certain guarantee for the development of human health.

Recent Progress in Plasmonic based Electrochemiluminescence Biosensors: A Review

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) analysis has become a powerful tool in recent biomarker detection and clinic diagnosis due to its high sensitivity and broad linear range. To improve the analytical performance of ECL biosensors, various advanced nanomaterials have been introduced to regulate the ECL signal such as graphene, gold nanomaterials, and quantum dots. Among these nanomaterials, some plasmonic nanostructures play important roles in the fabrication of ECL biosensors. The plasmon effect for the ECL signal includes ECL quenching by resonant energy transfer, ECL enhancement by surface plasmon resonance enhancement, and a change in the polarized angle of ECL emission. The influence can be regulated by the distance between ECL emitters and plasmonic materials, and the characteristics of polarization angle-dependent surface plasmon coupling. This paper outlines the recent advances of plasmonic based ECL biosensors involving various plasmonic materials including noble metals and semiconductor nanomaterials. The detection targets in these biosensors range from small molecules, proteins, nucleic acids, and cells thanks to the plasmonic effect. In addition to ECL biosensors, ECL microscopy analysis with plasmonic materials is also highlighted because of the enhanced ECL image quality by the plasmonic effect. Finally, the future opportunities and challenges are discussed if more plasmonic effects are introduced into the ECL realm.

Sorting and Screening of Quaternary Ammonium Lipoids for Membrane-Binding Assays Based on Electrochemiluminescent Cocrystalline Nanosheets

Being synthetic supplements to natural lipids, lipoids now play an increasingly significant role in nanopore sequencing, olfactory sensing, and nanoimpact electrochemistry. Yet, systematic comparisons to sort and screen qualified lipoids are lacking for specific scenario applications. Here, taking the merits of electrochemiluminescence (ECL) in probing biointerfacial events, a new metric was proposed for the evaluation of substrate candidacy in the pool of hyamine bromides (ABs), that are used to cohere with electron-rich porphyrins for deep eutectics-like ECL matrices. Using a state-of-the-art framework emitter, the cocrystalline nanosheet of C₇₀ and zinc meso-tetraphenylporphine (ZnTPP) via simple liquid-liquid interfacial deposition, 6 out of 20 ABs were inspected and identified as not only amenable filmogens but excitonic sensitizers in key terms of ECL strength as well as voltammetric characteristics. Among them, the methyltrioctyl (MTOAB) headgroup stood out; while the ECL activity at ZnTPP-C₇₀@MTOAB was proven to be dictated by ionophoresis across multilamellar lipoidal layers. Thus, target-induced membrane deformation would let coreactant scavengers in to quench ECL, which enabled assays on two less visited bioprocesses regarding (1) the lipid solubility of ipratropium bromide, an aerosol medication for rhinitis treatment; and (2) the resorption of selenosugar as the central metabolite of Se-proteins on kidney glomerular basement barrier. Both resulted in nice membrane-binding measurements with comparable dissociation constants to reported microfluidic ELISA methods. By and large, though still being rudimentary, such parametrization of ECL-able biofilm would set up a basic ECL toolbox for archiving and resourcing multilipoidal even lipid-lipoid combos to handle the realistic (sub)cytomembrane processes in the future.

Array-based chemical warfare agent discrimination via organophosphorus-H2O2 reaction-regulated chemiluminescence

It has been a challenge to achieve rapid, simple, and effective discrimination of organophosphorus nerve agents (typical chemical warfare agents) due to the similar chemical properties of the targets such as sarin, soman, cyclosarin and VX. In this study, we propose a chemiluminescence sensor array that can effectively discriminate organophosphorus nerve agents by organophosphorus-H₂O₂ reaction, which produces peroxyphosphonate intermediate and regulates the chemiluminescence intensity. A simple chemiluminescence sensor array based on different chemiluminescence characteristics of the four organophosphorus nerve agents in the luminol–H₂O₂ system and layered double hydroxide–luminol–H₂O₂ system has been constructed. Four agents can be well distinguished at a concentration of 1.0 mg L⁻¹ when linear discriminant analyses and hierarchical cluster analyses are smartly combined. The high accuracy (100%) evaluation of 20 blind samples demonstrates the practicability of this proposed chemiluminescence sensor array.

A chemical warfare agent sensor array based on organophosphorus-H₂O₂ reaction-regulated chemiluminescence is proposed.

Cationic AIEgen micelle-improved chemiluminescent H2O2 assay by integrating reactant approach and CRET

The enhancement of chemiluminescence (CL) intensity is significant in the development of chemiluminescent detection systems with improved sensitivity. In this study, a cationic surfactant with an intrinsic aggregation-induced emission emitter (AIEgen) has been applied to boost the CL signal of the horseradish peroxidase-luminol-H₂O₂ system. The formed cationic AIEgen micelles enhance the CL signal in two ways: the electrostatic attraction-mediated enrichment and approach of reactants and the high CRET efficiency between excited luminol radicals and AIEgen in the surfactant backbone. As a result, strong CL intensity is produced. Rapid and sensitive H₂O₂ detection is realized through the proposed cationic AIEgen micelle-containing chemiluminescent system with a limit of detection of 100 nM. The favourable selectivity over other possible interferents including metal ions and anions is due to the specific chemical reaction. Practical H₂O₂ analysis of thawing water samples with high accuracy using the proposed chemiluminescent platform is realized and is consistent with standard methods.

Electrochemiluminescence sensors and forensic investigations: a viable technique for drug detection?

Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are today considered one of the major ticking public health time bombs in regard to drug abuse. The inability to identify these substances with current screening methods, sees their distribution remain uninterrupted and contributes to the high death rates amongst users. To tackle this problem, it is vital that new robust screening methods are developed, addressing the limitation of those currently in place, namely colour subjectivity and lack of compatibility with the complex matrices these substances may be found within. To this avail, electrochemical methods have been assessed. These low cost and extremely portable sensors have been successfully applied for the direct detection of a broad range of compounds of interest in a range of matrices including, herbal material, commercial drinks and biological fluids (serum, saliva, sweat and urine). With their high versatility, gifted through a significant degree of flexibility in regard to electrode material a range of sensors have to date been reported. In this review the various electrochemical sensors developed to date for NPS detection will be compared and contrasted, with a special focus upon those utilising electrochemiluminescence (ECL) technology.

Rational Design of Electrochemiluminescent Devices

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is a light-emitting process which combines the intriguing merits of both electrochemical and chemiluminescent methods. It is an extensively used method especially in clinical analysis and biological research due to its high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, and good reliability. ECL devices are critical for the development and applications of ECL. Much effort has been expended to improve the sensitivity, portability, affordability, and throughput of new ECL devices, which allow ECL to adapt broad usage scenarios.In this Account, we summarize our efforts on the recent development of ECL devices including new electrodes, ECL devices based on a wireless power transfer (WPT) technique, and novel bipolar electrochemistry. As the essential components in the ECL devices, electrodes play an important role in ECL detection. We have significantly improved the sensitivity of luminol ECL detection of H₂O₂ by using a stainless steel electrode. By using semiconductor materials (e.g., silicon and BiVO₄), we have exploited photoinduced ECL to generate intense emission at much lower potentials upon illumination. For convenience, portability, and disposability, ECL devices based on cheap WPT devices have been designed. A small diode has been employed to rectify alternating current into direct current to dramatically enhance ECL intensity, enabling sensitive ECL detection using a smart phone as a detector. Finally, we have developed several ECL devices based on bipolar electrochemistry in view of the convenience of multiplex ECL sensing using a bipolar electrode (BPE). On the basis of the wireless feature of BPE, we have employed movable BPEs (e.g., BPE swimmers and magnetic rotating BPE) for deep exploration of the motional and ECL properties of dynamic BPE systems. To make full use of the ECL solution, we have dispersed numerous micro-/nano-BPEs in solution to produce intense 3D ECL in the entire solution, instead of 2D ECL in conventional ECL devices. In addition, the interference of ECL noise from driving electrodes was minimized by introducing the stainless steel with a passivation layer as the driving electrode. To eliminate the need for the fabrication of electrode arrays and the interference from the driving electrode and to decrease the applied voltage, we develop a new-type BPE device consisting of a single-electrode electrochemical system (SEES) based on a resistance-induced potential difference. The SEES is fabricated easily by attaching a multiperforated plate to a single film electrode. It enables the simultaneous detection of many samples and analytes using only a single film electrode (e.g., screen-printed electrode) instead of electrode arrays. It is of great potential in clinical analysis especially for multiple-biomarker detection, drug screening, and biological studies. Looking forward, we believe that more ECL devices and related ECL materials and detection methods will be developed for a wide range of applications, such as in vitro diagnosis, point-of-care testing, high-throughput analysis, drug screening, biological study, and mechanism investigation.

Recent advances of functional nucleic acids-based electrochemiluminescent sensing

Electroluminescence (ECL) has been used in extensive applications ranging from bioanalysis to clinical diagnosis owing to its simple device requirement, low background, high sensitivity, and wide dynamic range. Nucleic acid is a significant theme in ECL bioanalysis. The inherent versatile selective molecular recognition of nucleic acids and their programmable self-assembly make it desirable for the robust construction of nanostructures. Benefiting from their unique structures and physiochemical properties, ECL biosensing based on nucleic acids has experienced rapid growth. This review focuses on recent applications of nucleic acids in ECL sensing systems, particularly concerning the employment of nucleic acids as molecular recognition elements, signal amplification units, and sensing interface schemes. In the end, an outlook of nucleic acid-based ECL biosensing will be provided for future developments and directions. We envision that nucleic acids, which act as an essential component for both bioanalysis and clinical diagnosis, will provide a new thinking model and driving force for developing next-generation sensing systems.

Electrochemiluminescence imaging of respiratory activity of cellular spheroids using sequential potential steps

The respiratory activity of cultured cells can be electrochemically monitored using scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) with high spatial resolution. However, in SECM, the electrode takes a long time to scan, limiting simultaneous measurements with large biological samples such as cell spheroids. Therefore, for rapid electrochemical imaging, a novel strategy is needed. Herein, we report electrochemiluminescence (ECL) imaging of spheroid respiratory activity for the first time using sequential potential steps. L-012, a luminol analog, was used as an ECL luminophore, and H₂O₂, a sensitizer for ECL of L-012, was generated by the electrochemical reduction of dissolved O₂. The ECL imaging visualized spheroid respiratory activity-evidenced by ECL suppression-corresponding to O₂ distribution around the spheroids. This method enabled the time-lapse imaging of respiratory activity in multiple spheroids with good spatial resolution comparable to that of SECM. Our work provides a promising high-throughput imaging strategy for elucidating spheroid cellular dynamics.