Increased enhancement in surface enhanced raman scattering from Ag electrodes with the addition of pyridine to the electrolyte

The addition of pyridine to a 1 M KCl electrolyte before the oxidation—reduction cycle (ORC) of a Ag electrode significantly increases the surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) intensities of the H₂O and Ag⁰-Cl^? stretching modes. The increase in the enhancement can be attributed to the fact that Ag⁰ adatoms, formed during the ORC, are stabilized by adsorbed pyridine complexes. The addition of pyridine after the ORC does not affect the H₂O and Ag⁰-Cl^? SERS intensities.