Enhanced room temperature ferromagnetism in porous BiFeO3 prepared using

Porous BiFeO3 has been prepared using cotton templates. Strongly enhanced ferromagnetism with saturate magnetization of 3 emu/g at 300 K has been observed. An energy band gap of 2.21 eV was determined from the UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrum. The Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements indicate the existence of Fe2+ and the suppression of the oxygen octahedral tilts. The enhanced ferromagnetism has been attributed to the enhanced double exchange interaction with increased angle of Fe2+-O-Fe3+. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.