Coherent Vibrational Spectroscopy of Electrochemical Interfaces with Plasmonic Nano-gratings

The fundamental understanding of electrochemistry urges accurate knowledge of all interfacial properties at the molecular-level, but the retrieval of such information is a real challenge. Optical spectroscopies facilitated by surface plasmon enhancement can shed light on this field, yet past studies relied on either highly inhomogeneous “hot spots”, or planar plasmon modes with limited enhancement. Here we report an in situ sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy scheme using plasmonic nano-gratings, which enable strong, coherent surface plasmon excitation even on planar electrodes. With two classical reactions, the gold oxidation and pyridine adsorption in water, we demonstrate the realization of coherent vibrational spectroscopy in the strong absorption region, revealing the polar orientation and ordering of interfacial species that are crucial toward the mechanistic understanding of electrochemical phenomena.