The immobilization of graphene quantum dots by one-step electrodeposition and its application in peroxydisulfate electrochemiluminescence

This work reports a facile approach to achieve the immobilization of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) by one-step electrodeposition and the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) behaviors of the graphene quantum dots-chitosan (GQDs-CHIT) film was investigated with peroxydisulfate (K2S2O8) solution as coreactant. Compare with the traditional dispensing method, the GQDs-CHIT/Au electrode by one-step electrodeposition showed more stable ECL signal. And the ECL signal of GQDs-CHIT modified electrode in K2S2O8 solution was about 11-fold enhanced than that of bare electrode with the ECL onset potential positive shifted from − 1.03 V to − 0.82 V. Based on the above, an ECL sensor for K2S2O8 determination was fabricated. The as-prepared ECL K2S2O8 sensor shows wide linear response of 0.01–150 mM with the detection limit 3.3 μM (S/N = 3). Moreover, we expect this method for the immobilization of GQDs can open up new prospects for the utilization of GQDs in electrochemical sensors.