2.1. Metal nanomaterialsGold nanoparticles (Au NPs), which are stable metal nanomaterials, present fascinating aspects, such as their assembly into multiple types involving materials science, the behavior of the individual particles, size-related electronic, magnetic, and optical properties (quantum size effect), and their applications to catalysis and biology [18]. The unique properties of Au NPs modified electrode interfaces that are different from conventional electrodes lead to novel ECL biosensors with high sensitivity and good stability in immunoassay, DNA assay [19-21]. The enhancement of ECL signals on biosensors with Au NPs modified electrode is mainly attributed to the increase of the surface area.Dong et al.

developed an ECL alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) biosensor, by self-assembling ADH to ruthenium(II) tris(bipyridine) (Ru(bpy)32+)-Au NPs aggregates on an indium tin oxide electrode (ITO) surface [19]. Positively charged Ru(bpy)32+ was stably immobilized on the electrode surface with negatively charged Au NPs in the form of aggregate via electrostatic interaction. Au NPs are favorable candidates for the immobilization of enzymes because amine groups and cysteine residues in the enzymes are known to bind strongly with Au NPs. Such biosensors combine enzymatic selectivity with the sensitivity of ECL detection for quantification of enzyme substrates with high sensitivity and selectivity.Besides, Au NPs can act as tiny conduction centers to facilitate the transfer of electrons.

Wang and coworkers [20] developed an ECL biosensor for the determination of biological substances including bovine serum albumin and immunoglobulin G (IgG) using 4-(dimethylamino) butyric acid (DMBA) as a label on a gold nanoparticles modified gold electrode. As shown in Figure 1, a gold nanoparticle layer was first combined into the surface of the 2-mm-diameter gold electrode. Avidin was covalently conjugated to a self-assembled monolayer of 3-mercaptopropanoic acid on the gold nanoparticle layer. Biotinylated BSA-DMBA was then immobilized on the gold nanoparticle layer of the gold Drug_discovery electrode via the avidin-biotin reaction. IgG was tested via a typical sandwich-type immobilization method. Sensitivity enhancements of 10- and 6-fold were obtained with Au NPs amplification for BAS and IgG over their direct immobilization on an electrode, due to the increase of the electrode area, resulting in the increase of immobilization amount of recognition bimolecular.

Figure 1.Schematic diagrams of immobilization of BSA (a) and IgG (b) on the gold electrode with gold nanoparticle amplification. Reprinted from Ref [20] with permission from The American Chemical Society.The same idea for DNA hybridization detection was reported by Zhang et al. [21], in which the surface density of single stranded DNA on the gold nanoparticle modified gold electrode was 12-fold higher than that on the bare gold electrode.