To provide safe drinking water, fluoride in water must be removed and adsorption processes appear to be the most widely used method. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a new class of adsorbents that have been used in various adsorption applications. To study the adsorption mechanism of fluoride to MOFs in water and obtain related adsorption parameters, we synthesized a zirconium-based MOF with a primary amine group on its ligand, named UiO-66-NH2. The kinetics, adsorption isotherm and thermodynamics of fluoride adsorption to UiO-66-NH2 were investigated. The crystalline structure of UiO-66NH(2) remained intact and the local structure of zirconium in UiO-66-NH2 did not change significantly after being exposed to fluoride. The kinetics of the fluoride adsorption in UiO-66-NH2 could be well represented by the pseudo second order rate law. The enthalpy of the adsorption indicates that the F- adsorption to UiO-66-NH2 was classified as a physical adsorption. However, the comparison between the adsorption capacities of UiO-66-NH2 and UiO-66 suggests that the fluoride adsorption to UiO-66-NH2 might primarily involve a strong interaction between F- and the metal site. The fluoride adsorption capacity of UiO-66-NH2 was found to decrease when pH > 7. While the presence of chloride/bromide ions did not noticeably change the adsorption capacity of UiO-66-NH2, the ionic surfactants slightly affected the adsorption capacity of UiO-66-NH2. These findings provide insights to further optimize the adsorption process for removal of fluoride using zirconium-based MOFs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.