Photocatalysis technology, using semiconductor nano-materials to decompose toxic pollutants under solar light irradiation, displays great prospects for environmental protection. This review gives an overview of the applications of BiOX (X = Cl, Br and I) photocatalysts for efficient photocatalytic degradation (PCD) removal of pollutants in water/air, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), organic molecule pollutants, polymer pollutants and biological substances. In addition, the hybridization, facet effects and photocatalytic mechanisms of BiOX are highlighted to offer guidelines for designing highly-active BiOX visible-light-driven (VLD) photocatalysts. Furthermore, the research trends and future prospects of BiOX photocatalysts are also briefly summarized. It may lead to feasible green and efficient photocatalytic reaction systems using BiOX as the photocatalyst. Nano impactIn the area of environmental remediation, photocatalytic technology using nano-photocatalysts is one of the most important parts. In the past ten years, BiOX (X = Cl, Br and I) 2D nanosheets and 3D hierarchical structures with 2D nanoflakes have offered potential for efficient photocatalytic degradation (PCD) removal of pollutants in air, water and biological contaminants. Based on the layer structure characterized as [Bi 2 O 2 ] slabs interleaved by double slabs of halogen atoms, BiOX 2D crystals show open crystalline structures and indirect optical transitions. So, they display very high photocatalytic activity for environmental remediation. On the other hand, the thickness and exposed facets of BiOX 2D crystals also affect their photocatalytic performance and mechanism.

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Mimicking ''p back-donation'' is proposed as a facile, feasible, and generalizable approach to boost electrocatalytic ammonia production from dinitrogen on pblock-element catalysts, which lack d-orbitals. Such behavior is realized by providing sufficient empty orbitals on the surface of Bi 4 O 5 I 2 . The integrated modification of oxygen vacancy with hydroxyl achieves the generation of empty orbitals to reduce the energy barrier for N 2 protonation. The intriguing strategy that takes advantage of the electronic structure modulation endows this p-blockelement catalyst with a relatively high ammonia synthesis of 20.44 mg h À1 mg À1 cat . in neutral media at a high faradic efficiency of 32.4%.

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The application of photocatalytic sterilization technology for the sterilization of water has been broadly studied in recent years. However, developing photocatalysts with high disinfection efficiency remains an urgent challenge. Tungsten trioxide with coexisting oxygen vacancies and carbon coating (WO 3−x /C) has been successfully synthesized toward the photothermal inactivation of Escherichia coli. Oxygen vacancies and carbon coating bring WO 3−x /C strong absorption in the infrared region and enhance the carrier separation efficiency. As a result, a higher sterilization rate is obtained compared to WO 3 . WO 3−x /C can completely inactivate E. coli under infrared light within 40 min through photothermal synergy process. During the process of inactivating bacteria over WO 3−x /C, E. coli is killed by the destruction of their cell membrane to decrease the activity of enzymes and release the cell contents, which can be ascribed to the efficient generation of reactive oxygen species (O 2•− and • OH) and thermal effect. This work demonstrates a novel approach for engineering efficient and energy-saving catalysts for water sterilization.