Degradation and detoxification of broad-spectrum antibiotics by small molecular intercalated BiOCl under visible light

•Small molecular intercalated BiOCl photocatalyst was successfully synthesized.•The SBC-0.5 showed excellent photocatalytic activity on antibiotics.•Sorbitol as a carrier transport bridge accelerated the charge transfer.•O2– was the main reactive oxidative specie in the photocatalytic degradation.•The photocatalytic degradation of SBC-0.5 can detoxify antibiotics.