TY - JOUR A1 - Kneipp, Janina A1 - Zhang, Zhiyang T1 - Mapping the Inhomogeneity in Plasmonic Catalysis on Supported Gold Nanoparticles Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Microspectroscopy JF - Analytical Chemistry N2 - The characterization of a catalyst often occurs by averaging over large areas of the catalyst material. On the other hand, optical probing is easily achieved at a resolution at the micrometer scale, specifically in microspectroscopy. Here, using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) mapping of larger areas with micrometer-sized spots that contain tens to hundreds of supported gold nanoparticles each, the photoinduced dimerization of p-aminothiophenol (PATP) to 4,4′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) was monitored. The mapping data reveal an inhomogeneous distribution of catalytic activity in the plasmon-catalyzed reaction in spite of a very homogeneous plasmonic enhancement of the optical signals in SERS. The results lead to the conclusion that only a fraction of the nanostructures may be responsible for a high catalytic activity. The high spot-to-spot variation in catalytic activity is also demonstrated for DMAB formation by the plasmon-catalyzed reduction from p-nitrothiophenol (PNTP) and confirms that an improvement of the accuracy and reproducibility in the characterization of catalytic reactions can be achieved by microspectroscopic probing of many positions. Using SERS micromapping during the incubation of PATP, we demonstrate that the reaction occurs during the incubation process and is influenced by different parameters, leading to the conclusion of dimerization in a gold-catalyzed, nonphotochemical reaction as an alternative to the plasmon-catalyzed process. The results have implications for the future characterization of new catalyst materials as well as for optical sensing using plasmonic materials. KW - P-aminothiophenol KW - Silver nanoparticles KW - Chemical transformation KW - Metal nanoparticles KW - Coupling reactions KW - AU nanoparticle KW - AG nanoparticle KW - Spectroscopy KW - Sers KW - Molecule PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.8b01701 VL - 90 IS - 15 SP - 9199 EP - 9205 PB - American Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-46372 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -