Surface-sensitive molecular information on polymers from UV-resonance Raman spectroscopy
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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Interfacial Molecular-level Structures of Polymers and Biomacromolecules Revealed via Sum Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy
Published on: August 13, 2019
Jiann-Hua Wang1, David Klenerman, André van der Pol
1Chemistry Department, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK.
Abstract:
Ultraviolet resonance Raman spectroscopy (UV-RRS) has been applied to a series of samples of poly(ethylene 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate) (PEN) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) of varying thickness. The spectra demonstrate that under resonance conditions, when absorption is very strong, only a very thin top layer of the sample is probed (hundreds of nanometers range). This allows probing molecular vibrational spectra of the top layer of the sample, with a surface-resolution at least an order of magnitude better than in the case of normal non-resonance Raman spectroscopy and using a microscope.
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