Polypyrrole/carbon nanotube coated stainless steel mesh as a novel sorbent

Abstract

Polypyrrole/carbon nanotubes (PPy/CNTs) were electrochemically deposited onto stainless steel meshes. The solid-phase extraction cartridge was utilized to extract polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from environmental water samples using the PPy/CNT coated stainless steel meshes as a sorbent. With the use of a gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID), the extracted analytes were determined. At optimized extraction conditions, higher extraction efficiency was obtained for the PPy/CNT-coated stainless steel meshes than the PPy-coated stainless steel meshes and C18 commercial cartridges. Good linear ranges were obtained in the range of 0.003 to 200 ng mL⁻¹ for naphthalene; 0.01 to 200 ng mL⁻¹ for acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorine, and anthracene; and 0.05 to 200 ng mL⁻¹ for pyrene and benz[a]anthracene, respectively. The limits of detection (LODs, S/N, 3) were achieved in the range of 0.001 to 0.01 ng mL⁻¹. The repeatability (as relative standard deviations, RSD%) of SPE-GC-FID ranged between 3.6 and 5.7%. Finally, real water samples (well water, tap water, river water, and wastewater) were analyzed using the established method to determine the presence of PAHs, with relative recoveries varying from 96.5 to 99.9%.