Synthesis of palladium nanoparticles on organically modified silica: Application to design of a solid-state electrochemiluminescence sensor for highly sensitive determination of imipramine

•Organically modified silica substrate was used for synthesis of Pd NPs.•The mechanism of Pd NPs formation is proposed by the electrochemical methods.•A sensitive and selective ECL imipramine sensor was fabricated.•The ECL sensor is highly sensitive, selective with good linearity.

Organically modified silica substrate containing amine and vinyl functional groups were used for reduction and stabilization of palladium nanoparticles. Uniform spherical nanoparticles of palladium with average diameter of 10 nm were formed on silica substrate by direct contact of the substrate with an aqueous solution of palladium precursor, without the addition of any chemical reducer. Moreover, a sensitive and selective solid state electrochemiluminescence sensor was fabricated for the determination of imipramine, based on Ru(bpy)32+-palladium nanoparticles doped carbon ionic liquid electrode. In this process, imipramine acts as a co-reactant for Ru(bpy)32+. It is believed that the enhancement of the electrochemiluminescence signal in the presence of palladium nanoparticles in the composite is due to palladium catalytic effect on electrochemical and also chemical process involved in formation of Ru(byp)32+*. In addition, the results confirmed that, the rigid composite electrode shows the characteristic of microelectrode arrays. The proposed method was applied to the determination of imipramine in tablets and urine samples. The electrochemiluminescence intensity showed good linearity with the imipramine concentration from 1–100 pM, with a detection limit of 0.1 pM.

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