Bioinspired Super-Resolution Electrochemiluminescence Imaging Based on Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Electrode-Electrolyte Interface Analysis.

Understanding the nature of electrode-electrolyte interface remains a long-sought goal in electrochemistry, as it could help to address major societal challenges of our time, such as the global energy and environmental crisis. Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) imaging enables the direct visualization of the electrode-electrolyte interface, rather than inferring active sites from morphology or surface chemistry. However, the signal decay and limited stability of ECL signals restrict their practical application. Here, by utilizing the high-frequency pulsed output of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), we developed a TENG-based electrochemiluminescence (TECL) imaging inspired by the cardiac diastole-systole cycle. The TECL signal overcomes the limitations of traditional ECL and employs a zero-shot deconvolution network (ZS-DeconvNet) to achieve super-resolution TECL (ZSSR-TECL) imaging. Utilizing the ZSSR-TECL imaging, the catalytic regions at the electrode-electrolyte interface can be analyzed, with high-activity, moderate-activity, and degraded regions clearly distinguished. In addition, three methods have been established for analyzing the catalytic activity of the electrode-electrolyte interface, including direct observation of TECL images, analysis of signal intensity profiles, and quantification of total signal intensity in fixed regions. The TECL imaging has the potential to enable the research of electrode-electrolyte interfaces and offers a perspective for enhancing ECL imaging.