In-situ Raman Spectroscopy of Amorphous Hydrous Thin Films

Amorphous hydrous ruthenium oxide thin films have attracted much interest owing to the possibility of using this material in electrochemical supercapacitors. Recently, it was found that this material is also electrochromic: during the charging/discharging cycle, the optical transmittance of the thin film is modulated. The physical and chemical origin of this phenomenon is not fully understood yet. In this work, we performed in-situ Raman spectroscopy measurements on amorphous hydrous ruthenium oxide thin films during the charging/discharging cycles. Unambiguous changes in the Raman spectrum were observed as protons were injected or extracted from the thin film. When the samples were annealed to reduce the water content, there is a consistent trend in the Raman spectrum. The origins of the Raman features and their relation to the electrochromic and/or supercapacitor characteristics is discussed.