Aggregation‐Induced Electrochemiluminescence by Metal‐Binding Protein Responsive Hydrogel Scaffolds

Abstract Functionalized hydrogels have aroused general interest due to their versatile applications in biomaterial fields. This work reports a hydrogel network composed of gold nanoclusters linked with bivalent cations such as Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , and Zn 2+ . The hydrogel exhibits both aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) and aggregation‐induced electrochemiluminescence (AIECL) effects. Most noteworthy, the AIECL effect (≈50‐fold enhancement) is even more significant than the corresponding AIE effect (approximately fivefold enhancement). Calmodulin, a Ca 2+ binding protein, may efficiently regulate the AIECL dynamics after specific binding of the Ca 2+ linker, with the linear range from 0.3 to 50 µg mL −1 and a limit of detection of 0.1 µg mL −1 . Considering the important roles of bivalent cations in the life system, these results may pave a new avenue for the design of a biomolecule‐responsive AIECL‐type hydrogel with multifunctional biomedical purposes.