Versatile Side-Illumination Geometry for Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy at Solid/Liquid Interfaces

In situ characterization of surfaces with tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) provides chemical and topographic information with high spatial resolution and submonolayer chemical sensitivity. To further the versatility of the TERS approach toward more complex systems such as biological membranes or energy conversion devices, adaptation of the technique to solid/liquid working conditions is essential. Here, we present a home-built side-illumination TERS setup design based on a commercial scanning tunneling microscope (STM) as a versatile, cost-efficient solution for TERS at solid/liquid interfaces. Interestingly, the results obtained from showcase resonant dye and nonresonant thiophenol monolayers adsorbed on Au single crystals suggest that excitation beam aberrations due to the presence of the aqueous phase are small enough not to limit TER signal detection. The STM parameters are found to play a crucial role for solid/liquid TERS sensitivity. Raman enhancement factors of 105 at μW laser power demonstrate the great potential the presented experimental configuration holds for solid/liquid interfacial spectroscopic studies.