Electrogenerated chemiluminescence from metal complexes-based nanoparticles for highly sensitive sensors applications

The coupling of nanomaterials, and nanoparticles in particular, with one of the most powerful transduction techniques, electrochemiluminescence (ECL), i.e., chemiluminescence triggered by electrochemical reactions at electrodes, has recently provided sensing tools with unprecedented sensitivity limits. This review aims to give an overview of the state of the art in the field over the last 5 years, i.e., a time span covering over 80% of the scientific production in this context. The results herein discussed would demonstrate that the use of nanoparticles in the ECL technique represents one of the most interesting research lines for the development of ultrasensitive analytical tools, offering an insight to recognize and select the best nanomaterials for ECL signal amplification, with particular emphasis in biosensing.