Abstracts

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is the electrochemical generation of light. It involves an interfacial charge transfer that produces the excited state of a luminophore at an electrode . ECL is a powerful technique that is widely employed for immunoassays and clinical diagnosis. On the other hand, photoelectrochemistry at illuminated semiconductors is a field of research that deals with the charge transfer of photogenerated charge carriers at an electrode surface. The combination of ECL with photoelectrochemistry at illuminated semiconductors is referred to as photoinduced ECL (PECL) and is a growing field of research.[1] PECL results in the conversion of incident photons , that are absorbed by the semiconductor photoelectrode to emitted ECL photons, produced by the ECL reaction. Although demonstrated in the seventies, PECL remained unexplored until the last five years, as a result of the considerable progress achieved in semiconductor photoelectrodes and ECL systems.[1] Nowadays, a large variety of PECL systems can be designed by combining photoelectrode materials with ECL luminophores, making it a versatile tool for light conversion.[2] In this talk, we will present the recent developments in PECL and we will show that, by engineering the photoelectrode material and carefully considering the reactivity involved for ECL , PECL enables the ultimate concept of all-optical ECL (AO-ECL), i.e., ECL generation at an illuminated monolithic device immersed into the electrolyte solution.[3] Due to the robustness of recently manufactured PECL systems, several applications can already be envisioned for microscopy, elucidation of mechanisms solar conversion mechanisms, bioanalysis, and near-infrared imaging.[4] References:1. Chem Sci 2022, 13, 2528–2550. 2. a) J Am Chem Soc 2019, 141 (33), 13013–13016. b) Angew Chem Int Ed 2020, 59 (35), 15157–15160. c) Angew Chem Int Ed 2022, 61 (20), e2022018.3. a) J Am Chem Soc 2023, 145 (31), 17420–17426. b) J Phys Chem Lett 2024, 15 (1), 148–155. c) Small 2024, in press, 2308023.4. a) Chem Commun 2023, 59 (82), 12262–12265. b) Chem. Sci. 2024, 15, 2055-2061