Observation of electrode-solution interface by means of internal reflection spectrometry

Advances in surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopy at electrochemical interfaces

“…The field of vibrational spectroscopy at electrochemical interfaces has undergone major developments since the first experiments were reported over half a century ago [1][2][3]. The discovery of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) in the 1970s revolutionised surface spectroscopy [4][5][6], allowing molecular adsorbates with a weak spectral absorption cross section to be detected at sub-monolayer coverages on roughened metal surfaces.…”

Characterization of Charge-Transfer Kinetics at Organic/Electrode Interfaces Using Potential-modulated Attenuated Total Reflectance (PM-ATR) Spectroscopy

“…Kuwana and coworkers 5,6 pioneered visible wavelength spectroelectrochemistry in both transmission and attenuated total reflectance (ATR) geometries. Subsequent reports by our group [7][8][9] and others [10][11][12] described spectroelectrochemical ATR systems implemented in multi-mode and single-mode waveguide configurations, providing broadband spectral information, sensitivity to submonolayer electroactive films, and chemical selectivity.…”

Planar Integrated Optical Waveguide Spectroscopy

“…However, transmission spectroelectrochemistry, in which the light path is perpendicular to the optically transparent electrode, may lack sufficient sensitivity to probe thin films of redox-active chromophores because of the inherently small optical path length (39,40). The significant advantages of performing spectroelectrochemistry with an ATR geometry were established in the 1960s (41)(42)(43). The evanescent field allows optical changes at the electrode-solution interface to be probed selectively without interference from the bulk so- Itoh and Fujishima were the first to demonstrate the advantages of performing ATR spectroelectrochemistry in the IOW regime (44,45).…”