Hierarchical Graphene coating for highly sensitive solid phase microextraction of organochlorine pesticides

• Hierarchical graphene was synthesized and characterized.
• A high specific surface area of hierarchical graphene was achieved.
• The highly sensitive SPME fiber was fabricated with hierarchical graphene.
• The fiber was successfully applied to the analysis of OCPs in the river water.

Graphene, a novel class of carbon nanostructures, has received great attention as sorbents due to its fascinating structures, ultrahigh specific surface area, and good extraction ability. In this paper, a new type of hierarchical graphene was synthesized through employing a mild and environment-friendly method. Such 3D interconnected graphene own a high specific surface area up to 524 m2 g−1, which is about 2.5 fold larger than the graphene, since the synthetic material has interlayer pores between nanosheets and in-plane pores. Then a superior solid-phase microextraction fiber was fabricated by sequentially coating the stainless steel fiber with silicone sealant film and hierarchical graphene powder. Since the novel hierarchical graphene possessed large surface area and good adsorption property, the as-prepared fiber exhibited good extraction properties of the organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). As for the analytical performance, the as-prepared fiber achieved low detection limits (0.08–0.80 ng L−1) and wide linearity (10–30,000 ng L−1) under the optimal conditions. The repeatability (n=5) for single fiber were between 5.1% and 11%, while the reproducibility (n=3) of fiber-to-fiber were range from 6.2% to14%. Moreover, the fiber was successfully applied to the analysis of OCPs in the Pearl River water.

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