Ultrathin metal organic framework nanosheets with rich defects for enhanced fluoride removal

Herein, we present a defluoridation approach based on ultrathin two-dimensional metal organic framework (MOF, viz., Ce-DCPBA) nanosheets. The nanosized layers and ultimately exposed metal defects of Ce-DCPBA enable the high-capacity adsorption of fluoride in a wide pH window. Attributed to tailored ligand exchange at metal defects and boron-fluoride complexation, Ce-DCPBA exhibits exceptional selectivity for fluoride with a partition coefficient up to 18.805 L g−1, even in the matrixes with ultrahigh salinity (8 mol/L of nitrate). Negligible interference from other anions, superior adsorption ability and favorable reusability promotes the practical application of Ce-DCPBA for the selective and efficient removal of fluoride from complex environmental samples. These findings furnish a promising strategy for the anesis of fluoride contamination, and illuminate the application potentials and superiorities of ultrathin MOFs-based nanostructures for environmental remediation.