Dual enhanced electrochemiluminescence using aggregation induction and coraction accelerator strategies for trace determination of acetamiprid

Developing electrochemiluminescence (ECL) systems with excellent analytical performance for sensitive detection of trace analytes is highly challenging. Herein, a high-performance ECL system for sensitive detection of trace acetamiprid was developed using a combination of aggregation induction and coreactant accelerator strategy with zinc ions-induced 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic (Zn−PTC) as luminophore, potassium persulfate (K 2 S 2 O 8 ) as coreactant and Au@MnCo 2 O 4 as coreaction accelerator. In the presence of K 2 S 2 O 8 , PTC fail to exhibited an obvious ECL signal, while Zn−PTC showed a significant ECL signal around −1.6 V. Au@MnCo 2 O 4 nanomaterial as the coreaction accelerator could be enhanced the ECL signal of Zn−PTC by 4 times, which is mainly due to the following three aspects: i) Zn−PTC with Zn 2 + -induced PTC aggregation not only eliminates the aggregation-induced quenching effect between PTC molecules, but also has a new metal-to-ligand charge-transfer effect, which could transfer the energy of Zn 2+ to the PTC ligand, thereby enhancing the ECL signal. ii) Au@MnCo 2 O 4 could accelerate the electrochemical reduction of S 2 O 8 2− and H 2 O to generate a large amount of active free radicals for enhancing ECL signal because the excellent reversible redox properties of Mn 2+ /Mn 3+ and Co 2+ /Co 3+ in Au@MnCo 2 O 4 . iii) Au@MnCo 2 O 4 acted as a satisfying nanocarrier to immobilize more Zn−PTC thereby further enhancing ECL signal. Benefitting from the fabulous performance of the developed ECL system from Zn−PTC/S 2 O 8 2− /Au@MnCo 2 O 4 , the developed ECL aptasensor for detecting acetamiprid exhibits a wide linear range from 5 to 100 nM as well as a low detection limit of 1.22 fM. As expected, the proposed ECL aptasensor was triumphantly applied to detect acetamiprid in actual samples with desirable results. This work integrated dual signal amplification strategies to effectively enhance ECL, which provided a novel perspectives and approaches to constructing sensors for trace detection of complex matrix species targets. • A high-performance ECL system for the first time was developed aggregation induction and coreactant accelerator strategy. • Au@MnCo 2 O 4 with reversible redox property as a coreactant accelerator could greatly enhance the ECL signal. • The ECL aptasensor showed a low detection limit of 4.22 fM for acetamiprid detection.