Analysis of stearic acid adsorbed on silver surfaces using optical spectroscopic techniques

This study involves the vibrational analysis of a lubricant/flake system which is routinely used in Ag-filled adhesives. The investigation focused on the interaction between the lubricant, in this case stearic acid, and a silver surface using temperatures that are employed in the curing of the polymer adhesive. The chemical nature of the stearic acid/Ag surface was probed with two vibrational spectroscopies: (1) surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), and (2) IR-visible sum-frequency generation (SFG). In addition to chemical specificity, numerous studies have shown that both techniques exhibit surface sensitivity to interfacial processes such as adsorption and decomposition.