BiOI is widely used as photocatalysts for pollutant removal, water splitting, CO2 reduction and organic transformation due to its excellent photoelectric properties. Here, we report for the first time that a light-free catalyst consisting of the flower-like BiOI microspheres (f-BiOI MSs) exposing (1 0 1) and (1 1 0) crystal planes prepared by a hydrothermal method in ethylene glycol environment can rapidly eliminate the refractory BPA within only similar to 3 min through a Fenton-like process. The reaction activity is 190 times higher than that of the conventional Fenton catalyst Fe2O3. A series of characterizations and experiments reveal the formation of the dual reaction centers on f-BiOI MSs. The electron-rich 0 centers efficiently reduce H2O2 to .OH, while the electron-poor oxygen vacancies capture electrons from the adsorbed pollutants and divert them to the electron-rich area during the Fenton-like reactions. By these processes, pollutants are degraded and mineralized quickly in a wide pH range. Our findings address the problems of the classical Fenton reaction and are useful for the development of efficient Fenton-like catalysts through constructing dual reaction centers. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.