Structural and optical properties of porous iron oxide

The structural and optical properties of the novel porous iron oxide fabricated by wood template have been investigated. The obtained porous iron oxide was characterized to be α - Fe2O3 by Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy. X-ray absorption fine structure measurement revealed that the bond length of Fe–O1 of the porous iron oxide has good agreement with that reported for the α - Fe2O3 crystal structure while the bond lengths for Fe–O2 and Fe–Fe deviate slightly from those of the α - Fe2O3 crystal structure. Photoluminescence from the porous iron oxide exhibited broad emission bands around 760 and 890 nm, which are believed to be due to the unique nanoscale structure of the porous iron oxide.