Abstract
It is still a great challenge to develop effective strategies to improve the low electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of air-saturated luminol. Herein, the synergistic effects of Ti(3)C(2)-TiO(2)-AuNPs nano hybrid and high-intensity focused ultrasound pretreatment (ultrasound-pretreatment) were used to significantly improve the ECL emission of the air-saturated luminol, and the mechanism was proposed. The ultrasound-pretreatment as a green method with the cavitation effect could form O(2)(-•) and H(2)O(2) in situ as an initiator. TiO(2) and Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) were in situ decorated on the Ti(3)C(2) surface to form Ti(3)C(2)-TiO(2)-AuNPs, and it was proved as a highly efficient booster which could catalyze and aggregate H(2)O(2) to the O(2)(-•). The utilization rate of intermediates has been greatly improved. Exosomes as model targets can be sensitively detected by the ECL sensor. The detection limit was 195 particles μL(-1). The detection results of exosomes in actual samples are satisfactory. We believe that the ultrasound-pretreatment strategy could be extended to the sensitive detection in the biological sample.