Methods
Table of contents
SERS + SERRS
With the help of surface enhanced RAMAN spectroscopy (SERS) it is possible to obtain structural information about surface bound molecules. Intermediate reaction products of an electrocatalytic reaction can also be identified. SERS requires special structures for surface enhancement (mostly nanostructured silver or gold surfaces) and additionally suitable measuring cells for electrochemical investigations. The excitation wavelength must be carefully selected for SERS in order to exclude photochemically induced reactions. Additional excitation of resonance frequencies in the vibrational modes is referred to as surface enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (SERRS).
SEIRA
The counterpart to SERS is surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRA). The examinations are usually carried out on specially prepared ATR units. The surface reinforcement depends strongly on the surfaces used (also mostly silver and gold) and their structuring.
RRDE
The rotating disk disk electrode (RRDE) is one of the standard methods for the investigation of electrochemical and electrocatalytic reactions. Cyclo voltammograms (CV) and linear sweep voltammograms (LSV), for example, are recorded via a potentiostat. If suitable measuring cells are used, the reactions can also be monitored spectroscopically in situ.
