Abstract
Ultrafast surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has the potential to study molecular dynamics near plasmonic surfaces to better understand plasmon-mediated chemical reactions such as plasmonically-enhanced photocatalytic or photovoltaic processes. This review discusses the combination of ultrafast Raman spectroscopic techniques with plasmonic substrates for high temporal resolution, high sensitivity, and high spatial resolution vibrational spectroscopy. First, we introduce background information relevant to ultrafast SERS: the mechanisms of surface enhancement in Raman scattering, the characterization of plasmonic materials with ultrafast techniques, and early complementary techniques to study molecule-plasmon interactions. We then discuss recent advances in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopies with ultrafast pulses with a focus on the study of molecule-plasmon coupling and molecular dynamics with high sensitivity. We also highlight the challenges faced by this field by the potential damage caused by concentrated, highly energetic pulsed fields in plasmonic hotspots, and finally the potential for future ultrafast SERS studies.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2263-2290 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| Journal | Chemical Society Reviews |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 21 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (CHE-1414466 and CHE-1506683) and the Materials Research Center of Northwestern University (DMR-1121262). This work was supported by DARPA under SSC Pacific grants N660001-11-1-4179 and HR0011-13-2-002. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of DARPA. NLG and MOM acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Research Program under Grant No. DGE-0824162.