With the development of photopolymerization in thick film curing, the design and synthesis of effective photoinitiators are becoming increasingly critical. A series of photoinitiators (4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)methanone (PECM), (4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)(9-phenyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)methanone (PPCM), (9-allyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)(4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)methanone (PACM), and (4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)(9-(hex-5-en-1-yl)-9H-carbazol-3-yl)methanone (PHCM) based on carbazole group were synthesized for thick film curing. These photoinitiators exhibited the maximum absorption wavelength red-shifted to 353 nm compared to BP and had high molar absorption coefficients (over 27,000 L·mol−1·cm−1). Under the irradiation of LED, the three-component system composed of photoinitiator, diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate, and triethanolamine could initiate the rapid photopolymerization of polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA 400). Under low intensity LED@405 nm (5 mW/cm2) irradiation, PHCM achieved a final double bond conversion (DC) of 98 % within 20 s, significantly higher than BP (65 %). Under the irradiation of LED@365 nm (5 mW/cm2), PHCM reached 99 % DC within 8 s, while BP reached 97 % within 20 s. This performance was attributed to the fact that the molar absorption coefficients of PHCM at 365 nm (30010 L·mol−1·cm−1) and 405 nm (746 L·mol−1·cm−1) were much higher than those of BP (71 L·mol−1·cm−1, 46 L·mol−1·cm−1). Additionally, curing depth of PHCM reached 8.4 cm after 100 s irradiation under LED@405 nm. PHCM also demonstrated excellent cell compatibility and migration ratio as low as 1.8 %, which was 1/5 of that of BP (9.5 %). Furthermore, PHCM was suitable for 3D printers with 4 s/layer. In addition, the initiation mechanism of the photoinitiator was studied by photodegradation and ESR tests.