Novel coating for solid-phase microextraction: Electropolymerization of a molecular receptor functionalized with 2,2′-bithiophene for the determination of environmental pollutants at trace levels

Electropolymerization of Polydopamine at Electrode-Supported Insulating Mesoporous Films

Bioinspired, stimuli-responsive, polymer-functionalized mesoporous films are promising platforms for precisely regulating nanopore transport toward applications in water management, iontronics, catalysis, sensing, drug delivery, or energy conversion. Nanopore technologies still require new, facile, and effective nanopore functionalization with multi- and stimuli-responsive polymers to reach these complicated application targets. In recent years, zwitterionic and multifunctional polydopamine (PDA) films deposited on planar surfaces by electropolymerization have helped surfaces respond to various external stimuli such as light, temperature, moisture, and pH. However, PDA has not been used to functionalize nanoporous films, where the PDA-coating could locally regulate the ionic nanopore transport. This study investigates the electropolymerization of homogeneous thin PDA films to functionalize nanopores of mesoporous silica films. We investigate the effect of different mesoporous film structures and the number of electropolymerization cycles on the presence of PDA at mesopores and mesoporous film surfaces. Our spectroscopic, microscopic, and electrochemical analysis reveals that the amount and location (pores and surface) of deposited PDA at mesoporous films is related to the combination of the number of electropolymerization cycles and the mesoporous film thickness and pore size. In view of the application of the proposed PDA-functionalized mesoporous films in areas requiring ion transport control, we studied the ion nanopore transport of the films by cyclic voltammetry. We realized that the amount of PDA in the nanopores helps to limit the overall ionic transport, while the pH-dependent transport mechanism of pristine silica films remains unchanged. It was found that (i) the pH-dependent deprotonation of PDA and silica walls and (ii) the insulation of the indium-tin oxide (ITO) surface by increasing the amount of PDA within the mesoporous silica film affect the ionic nanopore transport.

Facile in situ fabrication of oriented titania submicrorods embedded into a superelastic nickel–titanium alloy fiber substrate and their application in solid-phase microextraction

A novel NiTi@TiO₂SR fiber was fabricated on a NiTi fiber substrate after annealing for the determination of PAHs in water.

In Situ Hydrothermally Grown TiO2@C Core-Shell Nanowire Coating for Highly Sensitive Solid Phase Microextraction of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Nanostructured materials have great potential for solid phase microextraction (SPME) on account of their tiny size, distinct architectures and superior physical and chemical properties. Herein, a core-shell TiO₂@C fiber for SPME was successfully fabricated by the simple hydrothermal reaction of a titanium wire and subsequent amorphous carbon coating. The readily hydrothermal procedure afforded in situ synthesis of TiO₂ nanowires on a titanium wire and provided a desirable substrate for further coating of amorphous carbon. Benefiting from the much larger surface area of subsequent TiO₂ and good adsorption property of the amorphous carbon coating, the core-shell TiO₂@C fiber was utilized for the SPME device for the first time and proved to have better performance in extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In comparison to the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and PDMS/divinylbenzene (DVB) fiber for commercial use, the TiO₂@C fiber obtained gas chromatography responses 3-8 times higher than those obtained by the commercial 100 μm PDMS and 1-9 times higher than those obtained by the 65 μm PDMS/DVB fiber. Under the optimized extraction conditions, the low detection limits were obtained in the range of 0.4-7.1 ng L^-1 with wider linearity in the range of 10-2000 ng L^-1. Moreover, the fiber was successfully used for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Pearl River water, which demonstrated the applicability of the core-shell TiO₂@C fiber.

Hydrothermally grown and self-assembled modified titanium and nickel oxide composite nanosheets on Nitinol-based fibers for efficient solid phase microextraction

A novel titanium and nickel oxide composite nanosheets (TiO₂/NiOCNSs) coating was in situ grown on a Nitinol (NiTi) wire by direct hydrothermal treatment and modified by self-assembly of trichlorophenylsilane for solid phase microextraction (SPME). TiO₂/NiOCNSs were radially oriented and chemically bonded to the NiTi substrate with double-faced open access sites. Moreover the phenyl modified TiO₂/NiOCNSs (TiO₂/NiOCNSs-Ph) coating exhibited original surface supporting framework favorable for effective SPME. The extraction performance of TiO₂/NiOCNSs-Ph coated NiTi (NiTi-TiO₂/NiOCNSs-Ph) fiber was investigated for the concentration and detection of ultraviolet (UV) filters, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate acid esters and polychlorinated biphenyls coupled to HPLC with UV detection. The novel fiber exhibited better selectivity for UV filters and PAHs and presented greater extraction capability compared to commercial polydimethylsiloxane and polyacrylate fibers. Under the optimized conditions for SPME of UV filters, the proposed method presented linear ranges from 0.1 to 300μg/L with correlation coefficients of higher than 0.999 and limits of detection from 0.030μg/L to 0.064μg/L. Relative standard deviations (RSDs) were below 7.16% and 8.42% for intra-day and inter-day measurements with the single fiber, respectively. Furthermore RSDs for fiber-to-fiber reproducibility from 6.57% to 8.93% were achieved. The NiTi-TiO₂/NiOCNSs-Ph fiber can be used up to 200 times. The proposed method was successfully applied to the preconcentration and determination of trace target UV filters in different environmental water samples. The relative recoveries from 87.3% to 104% were obtained with RSDs less than 8.7%.

Phenyl-functionalization of titanium dioxide-nanosheets coating fabricated on a titanium wire for selective solid-phase microextraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from environment water samples

A novel titanium dioxide-nanosheets coating on a titanium wire (TiO2NS-Ti) was in situ fabricated by one-step electrochemical anodization in ethylene glycol with ammonium fluoride and followed by phenyl-functionalization for selective solid-phase microextraction (SPME). The fabricated TiO2NS coating exhibits higher specific surface area and more active sites, it also provides an ideal nanostructure and a robust substrate for subsequent surface modification. These characteristics were useful for efficient extraction. The SPME performance of phenyl-functionalized TiO2NS-Ti (ph-TiO2NS-Ti) fiber was evaluated by using ultraviolet filters, polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as model compounds coupled to high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (HPLC-UV). It was found that the ph-TiO2NS-Ti fiber exhibited high extraction capability, good selectivity and rapid mass transfer for PAHs. The main parameters affecting extraction performance were investigated and optimized. Under optimized conditions, the proposed fiber showed good extraction efficiency comparable to those of commercial polydimethylsiloxane and polyacrylate fibers toward PAHs. The calibration graphs were linear over the range of 0.05-300 µg L(-1). The limits of detection of the proposed method were 0.008-0.043 µg L(-1) (S/N=3). Single fiber repeatability varied from 3.51% to 5.23% and fiber-to-fiber reproducibility ranged from 4.43% to 7.65% for the extraction of water spiked with 25 µg L(-1) each analyte (n=5). The established SPME-HPLC-UV method was successfully applied to selective concentration and sensitive determination of target PAHs from real environmental water samples with recoveries from 86.2% to 112% at the spiking level of 10 µg L(-1) and 50 µg L(-1). The relative standard deviations were below 9.45%. Furthermore, the ph-TiO2NS-Ti fiber can be fabricated in a reproducible manner, and has high stability and long service lifetime.

Mesoporous TiO₂ nanoparticles for highly sensitive solid-phase microextraction of organochlorine pesticides

Mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized with the hydrothermal method and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Then a superior solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber was fabricated by sequentially coating the stainless steel fiber with silicone sealant film and mesoporous TiO2 powder. The developed fiber possessed a homogeneous surface and a long life-span up to 100 times at direct immersing (DI) extraction mode. Under the optimized conditions, the extraction efficiencies of the self-made 17 μm TiO2 fiber for six organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were higher than those of the two commercial fibers (65 μm PDMS/DVB and 85 μm PA fibers) which were much thicker than the former. As for analytical performance, low detection limits (0.08-0.60 ng L(-1)) and wide linearity (5-5000 ng L(-1)) were achieved under the optimal conditions. The repeatabilities (n=5) for single fiber were between 2.8 and 12.3%, while the reproducibilities (n=3) of fiber-to-fiber were in the range of 3.7-15.7%. The proposed fiber was successfully applied to the sensitive analysis of OCPs in real water samples and four of the six analytes were detected from the rainwater and the lake water samples.

Preparation of temperature sensitive molecularly imprinted polymer coatings on nickel foam for determination of ofloxacin in Yellow River water by solid-phase microextraction

A new ofloxacin-templated MIP on nickel foam was investigated for the determination of antibiotics in river water.

In situ anodic growth of rod-like TiO2 coating on a Ti wire as a selective solid-phase microextraction fiber

A novel rod-like TiO₂ based SPME coating was directly fabricated by in situ anodization of Ti wire (Fig. 1). It has larger surface area and longer service time for sensitive determination of ultraviolet filters in environmental water samples.

ZnO nanorod coating for solid phase microextraction and its applications for the analysis of aldehydes in instant noodle samples

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods based solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coating was directly prepared on stainless steel wires using in situ hydrothermal growth method. This coating has high surface-to-volume ratio with a diameter in the range of 300-500 nm and a thickness of about 3-5 μm. A guiding tube was introduced into the laboratory-made SPME fiber to protect the ZnO nanorods coating from shaving, which significantly improved the method repeatability and prolonged the service life of the coating. The extraction properties of the prepared fiber were investigated using headspace SPME (HS-SPME) coupled to gas chromatography (GC) for the determination of aldehydes in instant noodle samples. The extraction efficiency of the coating for the five aldehydes was comparable to that of a commercial 85 μm Carboxen/Polydimethylsiloxane fiber, which has been reported to have best affinity towards aldehydes among all commercial fibers. The linear ranges of the proposed HS-SPME-GC method were from 0.05 to 5 μg g⁻¹ (hexanal, nonanal and decanal) and 0.1-5 μg g⁻¹ (heptanal and octanal), with the correlation coefficients from 0.990 to 0.999. The method developed was successfully applied to the determination of five aldehydes in instant noodle samples, and the recoveries were found to be 70.5-129% at the spiking level of 2 μg g⁻¹.