Three-dimensional graphene aerogel–mesoporous carbon composites as novel coatings for solid-phase microextraction for the efficient enrichment of brominated flame retardants

Abstract

Graphene aerogel–mesoporous carbon (GA–MC) composites with three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical nanostructures were synthesized using a nanocasting technique. The honeycomb-like GA–MC composites exhibited very high surface areas (728.3 m² g⁻¹), and ultra large pore sizes (48 nm) and pore volumes (0.96 cm³ g⁻¹) due to the synergistic combination of the advantages of both macro-porous graphene aerogels and the meso-pores of mesoporous carbon. These wonderful features made GA–MC a promising enrichment material for SPME fiber coating. Under the optimum conditions, the home-made fiber (GA–MC) was successfully applied to extract BFRs in real wastewater samples and ideal results were obtained with recoveries of 74.6–96.2%. The new fibers demonstrated excellent enrichment capabilities compared to commercial polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polyacrylate (PA) fibers for six brominated flame retardants (BFRs). The ideal extraction performance of the novel graphene aerogel–mesoporous composites creates new opportunities for SPME applied in environmental analysis.