“…In the SERS effect, the strong localization of the electromagnetic field associated with the collective excitation waves, usually called plasmons, of the electrons localized at the nanostructured surface of metals with high optical reflectivity, such as silver, gold, and copper, allows obtaining enhancements of several orders of magnitude (usually up to 10 7 factors) for the Raman response of the adsorbed molecules. In addition to this mechanism, also a chemical enhancement contribution, which usually provides Raman enhancement factors up to 10 2 , can be effective, due to the perturbation of the molecular polarizability because of the formation of chemical complexes of the molecules with the active sites of the metallic surface. Hence, SERS spectroscopy allows identifying, at trace level, reactants, products, or byproducts of reactions occurring where they take place, on the surface of the metal nanoparticles.…”