BACKGROUND Photo-remediation of water is seen as an economical and sustainable solution to undertake the rampant pollution by dyes and bacterial pathogens. Despite significant advances made in semiconductor mediated photocatalysis, the search for cheap, efficient, eco-friendly and robust photocatalyst has underachieved. RESULTS This paper reports the use of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) supported open-mouth spherical iron (III) based metal-organic framework (MOF) hybrid photocatalyst for rapid degradation of acidic dyes and bacterial pathogens. Open-mouth Fe-2,5-thiophenedicarboxylic acid (Fe-TDA) MOF was prepared by microwave-heating and coupled with g-C3N4 using methanol as solvent. Compared with the parent g-C3N4 and Fe-TDA, the resultant g-C3N4/Fe-TDA((x)) hybrids have shown nearly 4-fold increase in acid violet 7 (AV7) dye degradation and Escherichia coli bacterial growth inhibition. The improvement in photo-response of g-C3N4/Fe-TDA((x)) hybrids is ascribed to the exceptional specific surface area of the open-mouth MOF structure, rapid diffusion, transport of charged species and improved dissociation of photo-excitons. The present work may offer new directions for the synthesis of g-C3N4/MOF hybrid photocatalysts for visible light-driven applications. CONCLUSION A new open-mouth nanospherical g-C3N4/Fe-TDA(2wt%) photocatalyst developed by microwave heating, produced a high specific surface area of 114 m(2) g(-1), and improved rate kinetics of AV 7 dye photodegradation and E. coli inactivation. (c) 2018 Society of Chemical Industry