Selective photodegradation of malachite green in water by Bi2O3-doped TiO2 supported on molecularly imprinted powdered activated carbon

•Novel molecularly imprinted Bi/Ti/activated carbon photocatalyst (MG-MI) was firstly synthesized.•MG-MI showed strong specific recognition and synergistic effect of photocatalysis.•The mechanism of MG adsorption and photodegradation was well discussed based on experiments. A molecularly imprinted Bi/Ti/activated carbon photocatalyst (MG-MI) was firstly synthesised by using surface molecular imprinting. MG-MI showed the synergistic effect of strong specific recognition and photocatalysis due to the existence of MG imprinted cavities on the surface of MG-MI. The selectivity of MG-MI was evaluated by adsorption and degradation of CV and MG solutions. Compared with the nonimprinted material photocatalytic composite (MG-NI), MG-MI showed superior selectivity coefficient (5.17), higher adsorption capacity (75.23 mg/g), and faster degradation kinetic rate (0.054 min−1). This study confirmed that the perfect combination of surface MIT and photocatalyst has great potential and can be a promising solution for the treatment of mixed pollutants in wastewater.