Herein, various BiFeO₃ morphologies, including sheet-like, coral-like and rod-like structures, were synthesized via co-precipitation (CP), hydrothermal (HT), and sol-gel (SG) synthesis routes, respectively. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by physicochemical techniques to investigate their crystal structure, optical and photoelectrochemical properties. The SG-BiFeO₃ sample exhibited remarkable direct sunlight photocatalytic degradation of phenol (98.95%), superior to those of the HT-BiFeO₃ (77.4%) and CP-BiFeO₃ (66.9%) in 120 min. The SG-BiFeO₃ sample was the most effective among all due to the lower energy band gap value and highest separation of photogenerated charge carriers, which was validated by the UV–vis absorption, photoluminescence (PL) and photoelectrochemical measurements. The recycling and ferric (Fe³⁺) ion leakage test suggested that the SG-BiFeO₃ sample was highly stable for up to six consecutive runs. The radical scavenger studies implied that the photogenerated hole (h⁺), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and hydroxyl radicles (•OH) were the dominant reactive species. Finally, based on these, a possible photocatalytic mechanism for phenol degradation over SG-BiFeO₃ sample was also postulated.

在此，各种BiFeO ₃形态，包括片状、珊瑚状和棒状结构，分别通过共沉淀（CP）、水热（HT）和溶胶-凝胶（SG）合成路线合成。通过物理化学技术对合成的样品进行表征，以研究它们的晶体结构、光学和光电化学性质。SG-BiFeO ₃样品在 120 分钟内表现出显着的阳光直射光催化降解苯酚 (98.95%)，优于 HT-BiFeO ₃ (77.4%) 和 CP-BiFeO ₃ (66.9%)。SG-BiFeO ₃由于较低的能带隙值和光生载流子的最高分离度，样品是最有效的，这通过 UV-vis 吸收、光致发光 (PL) 和光电化学测量得到验证。再循环和三价铁 (Fe ³⁺ ) 离子泄漏测试表明，SG-BiFeO ₃样品在多达六次连续运行中高度稳定。自由基清除剂研究表明光生空穴 (h ⁺ )、过氧化氢 (H ₂ O ₂ ) 和羟基自由基 (•OH) 是主要的反应物种。最后，基于这些，还假设了 SG-BiFeO ₃样品上苯酚降解的可能光催化机制。