Photoreduction of methylviologen adsorbed on silver

Methylviologen adsorbed on a roughened silver electrode is reduced to its cation radical upon irradiation with laser light at liquid nitrogen temperature. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra were obtained with different excitation wavelengths between 406 and 752 nm and compared to those obtained at room temperature in an electrochemical cell under potential control. From two-color experiments, in which one laser frequency was used to generate the radical and a second to excite the SERS spectra, it was determined that radical formation occurs mainly with excitation in the blue spectral region. A comparison of the SERS spectra of the dication and cation radical forms of methylviologen with their solution spectra suggests that the former interacts more strongly with the surface than the latter. The cation radical appears to be stable for several hours in liquid nitrogen but has a short lifetime at room temperature. Two mechanisms for the photoreduction are discussed: plasmon-assisted electron transfer from the metal to the methylviologen dication and formation of a resonance charge transfer complex. The current experimental data are insufficient to determine the particular role of these mechanisms.