Electrochemiluminescence biosensing and bioimaging with nanomaterials as emitters

The continuous emergence of novel luminophores has been leading the development of electrochemiluminescence (ECL) analysis since the ECL phenomenon of silicon nanoparticles was first reported in 2002. Nanomaterial-based luminophores termed as nanoemitters exhibit great application potential in ECL bioanalysis. In this review, we systematically summarize the research progress of various types of ECL nanoemitters, such as semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), carbon dots (CDs), polymer dots (Pdots), aggregation-induced emission nanoparticles (AIE dots), and other nanoemitters including luminophor-edoped silica nanoparticles, metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, and metal nanoclusters. We mainly emphasize the characteristic of these nanoemitters and their applications in ECL biosensing and bioimaging by using them as labels, and highlight some impressive cases in the last five years. Finally, we discuss current challenges in the field of ECL nanoemitters and point out their prospects.