Energy and environmental issues are the major concerns in our contemporary “risk society”. As a green technique, photocatalysis has been identified as a promising solution for above-mentioned problems. In recent decade, BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I) photocatalytic nanomaterials have sparked numerous interest as economical and efficient photocatalysts for energy conversion and environmental management. The distinctive physicochemical properties of BiOX nanomaterials, especially their energy band structures and levels as well as relaxed layered nanostructures, should be responsible for the visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance improvement, which could be utilized in dealing with the global energy and environmental challenges. In this review, recent advances for the enhancement of BiOX photocatalytic activity are detailedly summarized. Furthermore, the applications of BiOX photocatalysts in water splitting and refractory organic pollutants removal are highlighted to offer guidelines for better development in photocatalysis. Particularly, no relative reports in previous studies were documented in CO₂ reduction as well as heavy metals and air pollutants removal, thus this review presented as a considerable research value. Challenges in the construction of high-performance BiOX-based photocatalytic systems are also discussed. With the exponential growth of studies on BiOX photocatalytic nanomaterials, this review provides unique and comprehensive perspectives to design BiOX-based photocatalytic systems with superior visible light photocatalytic activity. The knowledge of both the merits and demerits of BiOX photocatalysts are updated and provided as a reference.

能源和环境问题是我们当代“风险社会”的主要关注点。作为一种绿色技术，光催化已被认为是解决上述问题的有前途的解决方案。在最近的十年中，BiOX（X = Cl，Br，I）光催化纳米材料作为用于能量转换和环境管理的经济有效的光催化剂，引起了无数兴趣。BiOX纳米材料的独特理化性质，尤其是其能带结构和能级以及松弛的层状结构纳米结构应负责可见光驱动的光催化性能的改善，可用于应对全球能源和环境挑战。在这篇综述中，对BiOX增强光催化活性的最新进展进行了详细总结。此外，BiOX光催化剂在水分解和难降解有机污染物去除中的应用也得到了重点介绍，从而为光催化的更好发展提供了指导。特别是，以前的研究中没有有关减少CO ₂以及重金属的相关报道的文献。和空气污染物的去除，因此，本综述具有可观的研究价值。还讨论了高性能基于BiOX的光催化系统构建中的挑战。随着对BiOX光催化纳米材料的研究呈指数增长，该综述为设计具有优异可见光光催化活性的基于BiOX的光催化系统提供了独特而全面的见解。BiOX光催化剂的优缺点的知识已更新，并提供了参考。