Over the past decades Raman spectroscopy has been extensively used both on an industrial and academic level. This has resulted in the development of numerous specialised Raman techniques and Raman active products, which in turn has led to the adoption and development of standards and norms pertaining to Raman unit’s calibration, performance validation and interoperability. Purpose of the present review is to list, classify and engage in a comprehensive analysis of the different standards, guides and practices relating to Raman spectroscopy. Primary aim of the review is to consider the commonalities and conflicts between these standards and norms and to identify any missing aspects.
Standardisation in the field of Raman spectroscopy is dominated by the work of American institutions, namely the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM or ASTM International), with several active standards in place pertaining to terminology, calibration, multivariate analysis and specific applications, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), providing numerous standard reference materials. The industrial application of Raman spectroscopy is dominated by the pharmaceutical industry. As such, pharmacopoeias provide not only important information in relation to pharmaceutical-related applications of Raman spectroscopy, but also invaluable insight, usually by referring to ASTM and NIST standards, into the basic principles of Raman spectroscopy and important aspects that include calibration, validation, measurement and chemometric analysis processes.
Given the fact that Raman spectroscopy is a modern and innovative field, the standardisation processes are complex and constantly evolving. Despite the seemingly high number of existing standards, the standardisation landscape is incomplete and has not been modernised according to the developments in Raman spectroscopy techniques in recent years. This is evident by the lack of protocols for numerous areas as well as by the fact that some of the existing standards have not been updated to reflect the advances in the technique. Therefore, it is important for the Raman community to actively engage in and contribute to a modernisation process that will result in updating exiting and introducing new terms, protocols and guides. Indeed, the development of optimised common standards would be extremely beneficial and would further foster the development and application of Raman spectroscopy techniques, most notably those of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and low-resolution portable analysers.
Graphene oxide (GO) decorated with silver (Ag), copper (Cu) or platinum (Pt) nanoparticles that are anchored on dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA)-doped polyaniline (PANI) were prepared by a simple one-step method and applied as novel materials for high performance supercapacitors. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) analyses revealed that a metal-decorated polymer matrix is embedded within the GO sheet. This caused the M/DBSA–PANI (M = Ag, Cu or Pt) particles to adsorb on the surface of the GO sheets, appearing as aggregated dark regions in the HRSEM images. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy studies revealed that GO was successfully produced and decorated with Ag, Cu or Pt nanoparticles anchored on DBSA–PANI. This was confirmed by the appearance of the GO signature epoxy C–O vibration band at 1040 cm−1 (which decreased upon the introduction of metal nanoparticle) and the PANI characteristic N–H stretching vibration band at 3144 cm−1 present only in the GO/M/DBSA–PANI systems. The composites were tested for their suitability as supercapacitor materials; and specific capacitance values of 206.4, 192.8 and 227.2 F·g−1 were determined for GO/Ag/DBSA–PANI, GO/Cu/DBSA–PANI and GO/Pt/DBSA–PANI, respectively. The GO/Pt/DBSA–PANI electrode exhibited the best specific capacitance value of the three electrodes and also had twice the specific capacitance value reported for Graphene/MnO2//ACN (113.5 F·g−1). This makes GO/Pt/DBSA–PANI a very promising organic supercapacitor material.
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