This critical review discusses the applicability of vibrational spectroscopic techniques, specifically Raman and mid-infrared, to the study of molecule-based electronics through a series of examples. We focus on a number of devices currently of interest, such as solar cells, organic light emitting diodes, molecular junctions, switches and transistors. Infrared and Raman spectroscopic techniques and their variations, the main focus of this article, can be used to investigate properties such as crystallinity, multiphasic distributions in three dimensions, as well as lifetimes, structures and energetics of excited-states on ultrashort to very long timescales (210 references).
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