Incorporation of carbon nanotubes into graphene for highly efficient solid-phase microextraction of benzene homologues

• Published in: Microchemical journal 2018-06, Vol.139, p.203-209
• Main Authors: Cen, Jianmei, Wei, Songbo, Nan, Haijun, Xu, Jianqiao, Huang, Zhoubing, Liu, Shuqin, Hu, Qingkun, Yan, Jun, Ouyang, Gangfeng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Benzene homologues; Chromatography-mass spectrometry; Graphene‑carbon nanotubes composite; Solid-phase microextraction
• ISSN: 0026-265X; 1095-9149
• DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2018.02.032

3D graphene-carbon nanotubes (G-CNTs) composite with unique morphology and structure was prepared by one-step insertion of CNTs into graphene. Subsequently, the G-CNTs composite as a fiber coating material for solid-phase microextraction (SPME) was fabricated on the surface of a stainless steel wire by direct coating method. The prepared coating was tested by the extraction of benzene homologues (BTEX, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and m-xylene). Compared with a commercial polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fiber, the home-made coating exhibited higher extraction performance for BTEX, and the reasons were discussed systematically. Under the optimized conditions, the prepared coating coupled with chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for the analysis of BTEX exhibited wide linear ranges, low limits of detection (3S/N) (LODs, 0.59–2.68ngL−1), low limits of quantification (10S/N) (LOQs, 1.96–8.92ngL−1), good repeatability (3.2–5.5%, n=6) and reproducibility (3.7–9.1%, n=3). Finally, the developed method was successfully applied to the analysis of BTEX in environmental water samples with satisfactory recoveries (84.7–108.1%). This study is expected to further the exploration of high-performance SPME coating materials, and broaden the applications of graphene-based materials. [Display omitted] •Graphene-carbon nanotubes composite as a SPME coating was fabricated and characterized.•The coating exhibited high extraction performance towards BTEX with unique morphology and structure.•The coating was applied to the analysis of BTEX in environmental water samples with satisfactory recoveries.