Kinetic effects in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy: does it have potential as an analytical tool?

Abstract

The intensity of surface-enhanced Raman spectra, in general, and the relative intensities of different bands, in particular, depend on many parameters and are usually subject to variation with respect to standing time. Previously, several attempts have been made to explain the physical background to some of these variations, but so far no generally valid explanation has been proposed. As a consequence, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, despite its extremely high sensitivity, has not yet been accepted as an analytical tool. The work described in this paper demonstrates that an analytical application is possible under certain conditions.