Environmental applications of plasmon assisted Raman scattering

We present in this review article an overview of the capabilities of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy as a technique for applications related to environmental analysis and monitoring, ranging from the structural characterization of soils, through ultrasensitive detection of pollutants and heavy metal ions, to the analysis of plants, tissues and microorganisms, with a critical approach in which the drawbacks and difficulties associated to the various experimental configurations and enhancing substrates are introduced, as well as perspectives in the different fields.