Fundamentals and Applications
of Surface Enhanced Raman
Spectroscopy
Bishnu Pada Majee and Ashish Kumar Mishra
Abstract As an advanced approach to Raman spectroscopy, Surface enhanced
Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is known to be a powerful tool in detecting molecules at
very low concentration level. The enhancement in Raman signals of probe molecules
can be achieved by using the interaction between probe molecules and SERS active
substrates. The fundamental concepts related to SERS study have been discussed in
the present chapter. Electromagnetic and chemical interactions for improved Raman
signals have been discussed. Recent advancement in SERS study with different
metals and semiconducting active substrates have been provided as examples for
the detection of organic molecules.
Keywords SERS · Electromagnetic enhancement · Chemical enhancement ·
Enhancement factor
1 Introduction
Among various sensing/detection methods, optical methods have the potential to
detect the analyte molecules in a short time [1]. Raman spectroscopy is a fast and
non-destructive optical technique that can provide the characteristic information of
the probe molecule/analytes and hence it has been widely used in different applications in chemistry, physics, and medicine in the last few decades [2, 3]. Indian
scientist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman discovered the phenomenon of Raman
scattering in 1928 and received the Nobel prize in 1930 in physics for the same. In
Raman spectroscopy, the scattered photon frequency is proportional to the difference in energy in the vibrational levels of the molecule. Raman spectroscopy technique is used as a compound fingerprint, like other spectroscopic methods such as
Fourier transform infrared, UV–visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy
techniques. However, Raman signal are quite weak due to the small scattering crosssection. In order to improve the Raman signal, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
B. P. Majee · A. K. Mishra (B)
School of Materials Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu
University), Varanasi 221005, India
e-mail: akmishra.mst@iitbhu.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D. K. Singh et al. (eds.), Modern Techniques of Spectroscopy, Progress in Optical Science
and Photonics 13, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6084-6_7
185
of Surface Enhanced Raman
Spectroscopy
Bishnu Pada Majee and Ashish Kumar Mishra
Abstract As an advanced approach to Raman spectroscopy, Surface enhanced
Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is known to be a powerful tool in detecting molecules at
very low concentration level. The enhancement in Raman signals of probe molecules
can be achieved by using the interaction between probe molecules and SERS active
substrates. The fundamental concepts related to SERS study have been discussed in
the present chapter. Electromagnetic and chemical interactions for improved Raman
signals have been discussed. Recent advancement in SERS study with different
metals and semiconducting active substrates have been provided as examples for
the detection of organic molecules.
Keywords SERS · Electromagnetic enhancement · Chemical enhancement ·
Enhancement factor
1 Introduction
Among various sensing/detection methods, optical methods have the potential to
detect the analyte molecules in a short time [1]. Raman spectroscopy is a fast and
non-destructive optical technique that can provide the characteristic information of
the probe molecule/analytes and hence it has been widely used in different applications in chemistry, physics, and medicine in the last few decades [2, 3]. Indian
scientist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman discovered the phenomenon of Raman
scattering in 1928 and received the Nobel prize in 1930 in physics for the same. In
Raman spectroscopy, the scattered photon frequency is proportional to the difference in energy in the vibrational levels of the molecule. Raman spectroscopy technique is used as a compound fingerprint, like other spectroscopic methods such as
Fourier transform infrared, UV–visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy
techniques. However, Raman signal are quite weak due to the small scattering crosssection. In order to improve the Raman signal, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
B. P. Majee · A. K. Mishra (B)
School of Materials Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu
University), Varanasi 221005, India
e-mail: akmishra.mst@iitbhu.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D. K. Singh et al. (eds.), Modern Techniques of Spectroscopy, Progress in Optical Science
and Photonics 13, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6084-6_7
185