Nanoscale characterization of the surface plasmon catalysis with electrochemical tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

Electrochemical tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (EC-TERS), which provides molecular fingerprint information with nanometer-scale spatial resolution, is a promising technique to study the structure-activity relationships of the electrochemical interface. In this work, we developed the electrochemical tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (EC-TERS) that possesses high sensitivity and nanoscale spatial resolution, as well as methods to fabricate TERS tips with a high enhancement. Based on the developed systems, we in-situ monitor the plasmon driven decarboxylation reaction. The spatial distribution of the effective hot carriers was visualized by TERS imaging of the nanoscale reaction region, which provides mechanistic insights into plasmon driven reactions.