The use of Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) to probe the interaction of imidazole with the silver electrode surface

Abstract

The adsorption of imidazole on a roughened polycrystalline silver electrode has been studied using the SERS and impedance methods. The SERS results have indicated that different forms of imidazole (anionic, neutral and probably ylide ones) can be observed at the Ag surface. The relative amounts of these forms depend on the electrode potential and on the pH of the solution. The electrode surface facilitates deprotonation of neutral imidazole and a remarkable amount of the anionic form adsorbs at the Ag surface in spite of its small equilibrium content in the bulk.