Tailoring chemically converted graphenes using a water-soluble pyrene derivative with a zwitterionic arm for sensitive electrochemiluminescence-based analyses

•A water-soluble pyrene derivative compound with a zwitterionic arm was synthesized.•Tailoring of chemically converted graphene (CCG) was demonstrated using the pyrene derivative.•Use of the tailored CCG allowed a 138-fold enhancement in the electrochemiluminescence of luminol.•The enhanced electrochemiluminescence allowed a sensitive analysis of cholesterol.

We report a method to tailor chemically converted graphenes (CCGs) using a water-soluble pyrene derivative (1) with a zwitterionic arm, and the feasibility of the tailored CCGs to sensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL)-based analyses. The compound 1 serves the dual purpose of improving the dispersion of the CCGs in aqueous solutions and further tailoring the catalytic activity of the CCGs with dendrimer-encapsulated catalytic nanoparticles. As a model system, we conjugated dendrimer-encapsulated Pt nanoparticles to the 1-functionalized CCGs on indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes. The resulting ITOs exhibited significantly increased ECL emission of the luminol/H2O2 ECL system; i.e. two orders-of-magnitude enhancement in the ECL compared to that obtained from bare ITOs, which allowed a ca. 154 times more sensitive ECL-based analysis of cholesterol using the modified ITOs compared with the use of bare ITOs.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide