Single-atom boosted electrochemiluminescence via phosphorus doping of Fe-N/P-C catalysts

Yu-Xin Yang; Qian-Nan He; Cong-Hui Xu; Rida Javed; Hongbin Zhao; Daixin Ye; Wei Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.aca.2023.341091

Single-atom boosted electrochemiluminescence via phosphorus doping of Fe-N/P-C catalysts

Anal Chim Acta. 2023 May 8:1254:341091. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341091. Epub 2023 Mar 20.

Authors

Yu-Xin Yang¹, Qian-Nan He¹, Cong-Hui Xu¹, Rida Javed², Hongbin Zhao², Daixin Ye³, Wei Zhao⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China.
² Institute for Sustainable Energy/College of Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China.
³ Institute for Sustainable Energy/College of Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China. Electronic address: daixinye@shu.edu.cn.
⁴ Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China. Electronic address: wei_zhao@shu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37005019
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341091

Abstract

Single-atom catalyst (SAC), one of the most attractive catalysts in the field of energy conversion and storage, was proven as efficient accelerator for luminol-dissolved oxygen electrochemiluminescence (ECL) via the catalysis of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this work, we synthesized heteroatom doping SACs of Fe-N/P-C for the catalysis of cathodic luminol ECL. The doping of P could lower the reaction energy barrier of the OH* reduction, and promote catalytic efficiency toward ORR. The formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during ORR triggered cathodic luminol ECL. Greatly enhanced ECL emission catalyzed by SACs proved that Fe-N/P-C exhibited higher catalytic activity to ORR compared with Fe-N-C. Since the system was highly dependent on oxygen, an ultra-sensitive detection of a typical antioxidant, ascorbic acid, was achieved with detection limit of 0.03 nM. This study provides possibility to greatly enhance the performance of ECL platform through rational tailoring of SACs via heteroatom doping.

Keywords: Electrochemiluminescence; Heteroatom doping; Oxygen reduction reaction; Sensor; Single-atom catalyst.