Direct evidence of chemical effect of surface-enhanced Raman scattering observed on electrochemically prepared rough gold substrates Original Research Article

In this study, polypyrrole (PPy) films were electrochemically deposited on gold substrates roughened by an electrochemical triangular-wave oxidation–reduction cycles (ORC) in an aqueous solution containing 0.1N KCl. Then the substrates were heated from 25 to 50 °C and the corresponding SERS performances of PPy were observed in situ. The results indicate that the SERS enhancement capabilities of substrates are gradually raised from 25 °C to a maximum at 40 °C and monotonically decreased from 40 to 50 °C. These SERS enhancement capabilities ascribed to the charge transfers from PPy to Au, which are responsible for the chemical effects of SERS mechanisms, are successfully observed via SERS and high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HRXPS) analyses. The variation in content of the oxidized PPy peak of the double peaks in the range of 1000–1150 cm−1 in SERS spectrum obtained on an Au substrate at different temperatures is consistent with its corresponding variation in the SERS intensity of PPy. The variation in content of the oxidized nitrogen of PPy deposited on an Au substrate at different temperatures revealed from an HRXPS analysis also confirms this consistence.