Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of trans-stilbene adsorbed on platinum- or self-assembled monolayer-modified silver film over nanosphere surfaces

With trans-stilbene chosen as an example it is shown that a major problem in applying surface-enhanced Raman (SER) spectroscopy, namely the low tendency of nonpolar solutes to adsorb on SER active surfaces, can be overcome by modifying silver films over nanospheres (AgFON) with platinum or alkane thiols.The advantage of these surfaces is their stability in air and the possibility of applying atomic force microscopy for studies of the correlation between the surface structure and the enhancement factor.