In-syringe extraction using compressible and self-recoverable, amphiphilic graphene aerogel as sorbent for determination of phenols.

Journal: Talanta
Published Date:

Abstract

Graphene aerogels (GAs) have demonstrated great promise as sorbent materials. However, the intrinsically hydrophobic GAs are unsuitable for extraction of highly water-soluble analytes. Moreover, lack of compressibility limits the recyclability of GAs. In this work, an interesting type of water-induced self-recoverable amphiphilic GA was synthesized and employed as sorbent to extract nine priority phenols, listed as priority pollutants by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, from aqueous samples. The water-induced self-recoverability gives the GA the characteristic of a sponge, providing high recyclability and long-life. The aerogel was placed in a 2-mL microsyringe for in-syringe extraction of the phenols. The GA exhibits amphiphilicity due to the cross-linking by polyvinyl alcohol. At the same time, it exhibited selectivity to the water-soluble phenols. The extracted phenols were eluted with acetonitrile from the GA and the final extract was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). The results showed that this method provided low limits of detection for the phenols (0.089-0.015 µg/L), good linearity (r ≥ 0.9956) and low relative standard deviations (≤6.8%). The optimized method was applied successfully to river water samples. The simple in-syringe extraction procedure in combination with HPLC-UV analysis was demonstrated to be efficient, fast and convenient.

Authors

  • Sheng Tang
    School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu Province, PR China; Marine Equipment and Technology Institute, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu Province, PR China. Electronic address: tangsheng.nju@gmail.com.
  • Jun Sun
    School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu Province, PR China.
  • Dasha Xia
    School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu Province, PR China.
  • Bin Zang
    School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu Province, PR China.
  • Yuhua Gao
    School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu Province, PR China.
  • Chuanxiang Chen
    School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu Province, PR China. Electronic address: cxchen@just.edu.cn.
  • Wei Shen
    Department of General Surgery, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China.
  • Hian Kee Lee
    Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543, Singapore; National University of Singapore Environmental Research Institute, T-Lab Building #02-01, 5A Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117411, Singapore; Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, S2S Building, 18 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119227, Singapore. Electronic address: chmleehk@nus.edu.sg.

Keywords

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