Sensitive electrochemiluminescent detection of hydroquinone using silver/luminol-functionalized carbon microspheres

The detection of organic pollutants in water was deemed critical for safeguarding aquatic ecosystems, maintaining human health, and upholding water quality standards. In this study, a novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor was proposed for the sensitive detection of hydroquinone (HQ) in lake water, utilizing a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with silver/luminol-functionalized carbon microspheres (GCE/CM@Ag/Lu). Due to the consumption of H 2 O 2 by HQ, the ECL signal was attenuated, enabling the quantitative detection of HQ. Under optimized conditions, the linear range for HQ ranged from 1.0 × 10 −4 –1.0 × 10 −10  mol L −1 , with a limit of detection (LOD) of 3.3 × 10 −11  mol L −1  (S/N = 3). The proposed ECL sensor shows promising potential to open new avenues for water quality assessment.