ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCEDURE FOR OBTAINING SURFACE-ENHANCED RAMAN-SCATTERING ACTIVE POLYTHIOPHENE FILMS ON PLATINUM

An electrochemical procedure for obtaining surface-enhanced Raman scat tering (SERS) spectra of polythiophene films is described, During the electropolymerization process, which consists of using silver dodecyls ulfate micellar aqueous solution mixed with bithiophene and LiClO4, si lver cations are reduced, thus giving metallic silver particles embedd ed within the polybithiophene (PbT) film, Both doped and undoped PbT s pecies display SERS spectra with enhancement factors varying between 4 0 and 200 with respect to the film prepared in sodium dodecylsulfate ( i.e. without silver cations), Vibrational characterization of both dop ed and undoped species is then carried out and the polymer structural defects are evaluated, (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.