Modification of Screen-printed Carbon Electrodes with Gold Particles to Enhance Luminol Electrochemiluminescence for Hydrogen Peroxide Detection

Screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) were modified with gold particles to improve luminol electrochemiluminescence (ECL) in the presence of H2O2 as the co-reactant. Gold particles with sizes ranging from 10 to 50 nm were successfully deposited by the electrochemical technique with around 3.4% (w/w) gold on the carbon surface. The gold-modified SPCE (Au-SPCE) increases the ECL intensity of luminol around 2.5 times more than that using the unmodified SPCE. These signals were also found to be linearly correlated to H2O2 concentration. At an optimum pH of 9, the ECL signals of 1 mM luminol in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution using the Au-SPCE are linear in the H2O2 concentration range from 0.5 to 200 μM (R2 = 0.99) with an estimated detection limit of 4.78 μM. The developed sensor also showed the excellent repeatability and reproducibility of the ECL signals. Moreover, H2O2 detection in milk and tap water samples was also successfully demonstrated, indicating that the developed sensor is promising for H2O2 detection applications.