Analysis of the specific vibration modes of goethite (α-FeOOH) by terahertz spectroscopy and calculations of the vibration frequencies of a single molecule using density functional theory

Abstract

Steel sheet with an insulator to prevent corrosion is used for various purposes including in building and car manufacture. Terahertz waves, for which insulators are highly permeable and metal surfaces are highly reflective, have been studied in order to establish a new inspection technology for these steel plates. In our previous research, spectroscopic measurements in the 1.0-4.0 THz range, generated by a GaP crystal, were carried out in order to collect information on the infrared activity of the metal corrosion products formed on Zn-Al hot-dip galvanized steel sheet. In the previous work, the infrared activity of Fe-based corrosion products was not examined. To examine these products, we conducted THz spectroscopy on goethite (α-FeOOH) in the range from 8.4 to 11.0 THz, generated by a GaSe crystal. The results of Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) FTIR spectral measurements and molecular vibration calculations were analyzed, on the basis of which the natural vibration modes of α-FeOOH in the THz frequency range were assigned.