A glassy carbon electrode modified with C-dots and silver nanoparticles for enzymatic electrochemiluminescent detection of glutamate enantiomers

This paper describes an electrochemiluminescent (ECL) based method for chiral recognition and detection of both glutamate (Glu) enantiomers. The luminophore luminol (Lum) was used as both the reductant and stabilizer of Ag nanoparticles (AgNP-Lum) which were combined with carbon quantum dots (C-dots) and placed on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) along with the enzyme glutamate oxidase (GluOx). The use of these materials is found to result in strong amplification of ECL. The nanomaterials used were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The stepwise fabrication of the electrode was verified by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Under optimized conditions and by applying a typical potential of 0.6 V, the ECL increases linearly in the 5.0 μM to 5.0 mM Glu concentration range, with a 1.6 μM lower detection limit and satisfactory selectivity. A Glu logic gate idea has been designed that is based on this enzymatic biosensor.