Relation between Silver Surface Roughness and Optical Properties: Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Photoemission and Raman Scattering Continuum

A silver (111) single crystal electrode was roughened in perchlorate solution by a non-conventional oxidation–reduction cycle. The topography of the roughened electrode surface, as determined by in situ STM, was correlated with two optical properties, namely, local photoemission and Raman scattering continuum. An enhancement of these optical properties due to atomic-scale surface features was found and the relationship between this enhancement and the photoexcitation of electron-hole pairs on the electrode surface is discussed.