Chemiluminescence reactions enhanced by silver nanoparticles and silver alloy nanoparticles: Applications in analytical chemistry

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and silver alloy nanoparticles (Ag alloy NPs) are capable of amplifying the intensity of chemiluminescence (CL) reactions by different ways such as participating in phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance and cooperating as catalysts, reductants and even energy acceptors. Because of these properties, AgNPs and Ag alloy NPs have played important roles in improvement of analytical performance of CL-based techniques; consequently, leading to further extension of analytical applications of these techniques. In this paper, the literature on AgNPs and Ag alloy NPs-enhanced CL systems and their analytical applications were reviewed. In addition, the analytical figures of merits of the AgNPs- and Ag alloy NPs-enhanced CL methods were tabulated and some of them were compared with those of other methods, especially CL methods which were used uncatalyzed CL reaction or catalyzed by nanomaterials rather than AgNPs and Ag alloy NPs.