Ultrasound-pretreatment combined with Ti(3)C(2)-TiO(2)-AuNPs enhancing the electrogenerated chemiluminescence of the air-saturated luminol for exosomes detection

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.