(BiO)(2)CO3 (BOC) has been studied extensively due to its good photocatalytic performance for dyes and organic pollutants degradation. The common bismuth source like Bi(NO3)(3) is easy to hydrolysis, which makes the reaction slow and it is hard to obtain uniform structure at room temperature. Herein, dilute ammonia solution was used to dissolve the bismuth citrate and make the bismuth cation free in the aqueous solution, and as a consequence, it could homogeneously react with CO32- at room temperature. The resulted product presented nanosheet-based 3D hierarchical spherical appearance with a hollow interior, which exhibited enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity as compared to BOC compact packed microspheres obtained via hydrothermal method (HT-BOC). On the basis of this, Bi2S3/(BiO)(2-)CO3 (S-BOC) were synthesized by a one-pot room temperature route and the photocatalytic activity was further increased due to the construction of the heterojunction. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.