Total internal reflection sum-frequency generation spectroscopy and dense gold nanoparticles monolayer: a route for probing adsorbed molecules

We show that sum-frequency generation spectroscopy performed in the total internal reflection configuration (TIR–SFG) combined with a dense gold nanoparticles monolayer allows us to study, with an excellent signal to noise ratio and high signal to background ratio, the conformation of adsorbed molecules. Dodecanethiol (DDT) was used as probe molecules in order to assess the potentialities of the approach. An enhancement of more than one order of magnitude of the SFG signals arising from the adsorbed species is observed with the TIR geometry compared to the external reflection one while the SFG non-resonant contribution remains the same for both
configurations. Although further work is required to fully understand the origin of the SFG process on nanoparticles, our work opens new possibilities for studying nanostructures.