Highly Efficient Adsorption of Oils and Pollutants by Porous Ultrathin Oxygen-Modified BCN Nanosheets

The effective removal of oils and pollutants by adsorption plays a crucial role in the water purification and treatment process. Various nanostructured adsorbents have been reported in the past, while a majority of these lack in some critical chemical and structural characteristics which limit their practical applications. To enhance the adsorption process, there is a need for the development of advanced adsorbents with excellent adsorption capacity. Herein, porous ultrathin, recyclable, and large-scale oxygen-modified borocarbonitride (O-BCN) nanosheets with the large specific surface area and high-temperature oxidation resistance have been synthesized, which possess a remarkable adsorption performance for different oils ranging from 2360 to 4370 wt %. In the case of crude oil, it showed the maximum adsorption capacity equal to 43.7 times its own weight. Moreover, the saturation adsorption for Rhodamine B (RhB) dye reached 300.8 mg/g which denotes more than 98% removal efficiency. Kinetics studies reveal...