Preparation of SERS-active silver film electrodes via electrocrystallization of silver

The electrodeposition of a sufficiently large amount of silver on silver fi lms at high over potentials leads to excellent substrates for surface-enhan ced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The surfaces roughened in this ma nner show great uniformity across the active area and exhibit SERS enhancem ent factors which are superior to those of silver surfaces roughened by con ventional oxidation-reduction cycles. Since they are excellently reproduced from one sample to another, the prospects for application of this substrat e for analytical purposes are very promising. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.