Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering on Chemically Etched Copper Surface: An Upper-Level Spectroscopic Measurement and Analysis

摘要

Raman spectroscopy is an important vibrational spectroscopy tool to characterize chemical compounds. As only a few photons undergo Raman scattering, enhancement of signal is a vital requirement. In this laboratory experiment, some practical aspects of Raman spectroscopy and how a simple enhancement procedure can be used to detect a Raman signal has been described. An acid etching procedure has been used to create a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, and its effectiveness has been demonstrated with successful detection of the parts per million level of methylene blue. This work is relevant to upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level laboratory course preparation as the procedure is simple enough to be easily reproducible in a typical chemistry laboratory.