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Quantifying SERS enhancements

  • Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy: Substrates and materials
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Abstract

We provide a review of the main aspects related to surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement factors (EFs), from their origins to the important issue of their practical quantification. The discussion also focuses on correcting some long-held misconceptions regarding the EFs in SERS, which still persist through the literature. We explain the main topics in simple terms, aiming at clarification of basic concepts rather than an in-depth overview of the already existing literature.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Baptiste Auguié for his help in adapting Figure 4. The authors are indebted to the Royal Society of New Zealand for support through a Marsden Grant (ECLR and PGE) and Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (ECLR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

    Eric C. Le Ru & Pablo G. Etchegoin

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  1. Eric C. Le Ru
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  2. Pablo G. Etchegoin
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Correspondence to Eric C. Le Ru.

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Le Ru, E.C., Etchegoin, P.G. Quantifying SERS enhancements. MRS Bulletin 38, 631–640 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2013.158

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