Insitu growth of IRMOF-3 combined with ionic liquids to prepare solid-phase microextraction fibers

•IRMOF-3@ILs/PDMS SPME fiber was prepared and characterized.•The ILs can efficiently prevent the substantial crack of IRMOF-3 caused by moisture.•PDMS film can protect the material to achieve much better extraction efficiency.•The coating was evaluated by analyzing PAHs in water sample.

A superior solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber-coating material, IRMOF-3@ILs/PDMS, was prepared by the in situ growth of IRMOF-3 onto stainless-steel wires and protection with ionic liquids (ILs) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The ILs can efficiently prevent the substantial cracking of IRMOF-3 caused by moisture, and a thin PDMS film can protect the IRMOF-3@ILs material to achieve a much better extraction efficiency as well as excellent resistance to high temperature and high humidity. This IRMOF-3@ILs/PDMS coating possessed a porous structure, a rough surface and an increased lifespan (by at least 100 times) compared with that of IRMOF-3. The coating was evaluated by analyzing four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water, and good precision (<7.7%), low detection limits (12.0–15.4 ng L−1), and wide linearity (50–20,000 ng L−1) were achieved under the optimized conditions. The fiber was successfully applied to the sensitive analysis of PAHs in rainwater by coupling it with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS).

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