Surface potential and morphology mapping to investigate analyte adsorption effects on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)

Abhijit Chatterjee; David J G Gale; Dmytro Grebennikov; Liam D Whelan; Erika F Merschrod S

doi:10.1039/c7cc05473d

Surface potential and morphology mapping to investigate analyte adsorption effects on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)

Chem Commun (Camb). 2017 Nov 2;53(88):12024-12027. doi: 10.1039/c7cc05473d.

Authors

Abhijit Chatterjee¹, David J G Gale, Dmytro Grebennikov, Liam D Whelan, Erika F Merschrod S

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B3X7, Canada. erika@mun.ca.

PMID: 29058738
DOI: 10.1039/c7cc05473d

Abstract

We demonstrate the power of Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) in enabling a comprehensive study of enhancement mechanisms of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) through the correlation of surface electrical and topographical effects. Local electric fields generated on Au/ZnO nanohybrid films impact analyte adsorption, while roughness is linked to hotspot generation. Optimizing the interplay between these two effects yields SERS enhancement factors (EFs) of 10⁶, enabling ppb detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water.