Orientational behavior of cyanide on a roughened platinum surface investigated by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy

The surface Raman study of the electrode potential effect on the adsorption behavior of cyanide on the Pt surface was performed on a confocal microprobe Raman system with the help of a special surface pretreatment for the platinum electrode. The abrupt change of the dependence of the CN− stretching vibration on the potential at ca. −0.6 V indicates a subtle orientation change of the adsorbed CN. This is supported by the changes of the Pt–C vibration located at ca. 400 cm−1. A detailed discussion is given on the potential dependent adsorption behavior and the frequency shift of the major vibrational bands.