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In the OPINCHARGE Scientific Publications series, we highlight research that advances our understanding of materials, interfaces and processes relevant to next-generation energy technologies. This publication explores Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) and how it is transforming the way researchers study catalytic reactions.
The review “Impact of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy in Catalysis” was authored by Ivan T. Lucas and examines the development, capabilities and growing applications of enhanced Raman spectroscopy in catalysis.
Read the publication: https://zenodo.org/records/15000679
Catalysts are essential to many chemical and electrochemical processes, but understanding exactly what happens at their surfaces during a reaction remains challenging.
Many important intermediates exist only briefly or in extremely small concentrations. Traditional analytical methods may therefore miss the species and structural changes that determine how a reaction proceeds.
Raman spectroscopy provides a molecular fingerprint of materials through their vibrations, but conventional Raman signals can be weak. Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy dramatically amplifies these signals, making it possible to investigate chemical processes at surfaces with much greater sensitivity.
SERS uses specially designed nanostructures to enhance Raman signals from molecules located close to their surfaces. This allows researchers to investigate reaction intermediates, molecular structures and changes occurring at catalytic interfaces, including under real operating conditions.
The review highlights how SERS and related approaches, including Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS) and Shell-Isolated Nanoparticle-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SHINERS), have expanded the possibilities of catalytic research.
These techniques can provide chemical information at very small spatial scales and, importantly, enable in situ and operando measurements — allowing researchers to observe catalysts while reactions are actually taking place.
The potential of enhanced Raman spectroscopy extends beyond traditional catalysis. These techniques are increasingly valuable for studying electrochemical interfaces and battery materials, where reactions at the electrode–electrolyte boundary strongly influence performance and degradation.
For lithium-ion batteries, enhanced Raman techniques can help researchers investigate the formation and evolution of the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI), electrolyte behaviour and changes occurring at electrode surfaces during operation.
Such insights are particularly valuable because these interfaces are dynamic and difficult to characterise using conventional techniques alone.
A major strength of SERS is its ability to combine high chemical sensitivity with real-time observation. Rather than analysing only the material before and after a reaction, researchers can gain information about intermediate steps and changing surface chemistry.
The review also highlights how continued advances in nanostructure design, spatial resolution and operando methods are pushing Raman spectroscopy towards increasingly detailed investigation of catalytic processes — in some cases reaching the nanoscale and even single-molecule level.
Understanding what happens at reactive surfaces is essential for designing better catalysts, electrodes and energy-storage materials.
By providing access to chemical processes that are otherwise difficult to observe, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy offers a powerful bridge between fundamental surface science and real-world applications. Its continued development could help researchers better understand reaction mechanisms, identify degradation pathways and ultimately design more efficient and durable energy technologies.
