A phosphorylethanolamine-functionalized graphene foam (PNGF) has been proposed as an active filtration material for the capture and removal of heavy metal ions in water. Benefiting from its abundant hydrophilic portion of oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus groups, the PNGF is super-hydrophilic. The selected heavy metal ions, Pb(II) and Cd(II), could be rapidly and efficiently absorbed within 10 min using the PNGF through a filtration model, which is obviously less time compared with the several hours or even longer time when employing the traditional shaking or stirring model. In addition, the used PNGF filters can be easily reused after a simple, low-cost detachment using HCl to remove the heavy metals, providing a new approach for water purification. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.