Fluorinated activated boron nitride (F-ABN) has been confirmed to be able to effectively remove Cr(III) ions from aqueous solutions due to its novel porous structure with abundant structural defects and surface functional groups. The super performances such as low equilibrium Cr(III) concentration (0.052 mg l−1), short removal time (99.9 wt% within 5 h), and high uptake capacity (up to 387 mg g−1) suggest a promising application of F-ABN for the removal of toxic metal ions from the environment. Theoretical calculations reveal that various surface defects and oxygen-containing functional groups on the BN sheets are responsible for the excellent Cr(III) adsorption ability observed in the experiment.
