Cathodic electrogenerated chemiluminescence of aromatic Tb(III) chelates at polystyrene-graphite composite electrodes

•Generation of hydrated electrons at Polystyrene-graphite electrodes.•The insulating polystyrene layer on the outer electrode surface seems necessary.•Hydrated electrons are able to produce chemiluminescence.•Strongest signal and lowest std. dev. achieved at same graphite weight fraction.

Tb(III) chelates exhibit intense hot electron-induced electrogenerated chemiluminescence during cathodic polarization of metal/polystyrene-graphite (M/PG) electrodes in fully aqueous solutions. The M/PG working electrode provides a sensitive means for the determination of aromatic Tb(III) chelates at nanomolar concentration levels with a linear log-log calibration curve spanning more than five orders of magnitude. The charge transport and other properties of these novel electrodes were studied by electrochemiluminescence measurements and cyclic voltammetry. The present composite electrodes can by utilized both under pulse polarization and DC polarization unlike oxide-coated metal electrodes which do not tolerate cathodic DC polarization. The present cost-effective electrodes could be utilized e.g. in immunoassays where polystyrene is extensively used as a solid phase for various bioaffinity assays by using electrochemiluminescent Tb(III) chelates or e.g. Ru(bpy)32+as labels.

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