Development of a cheap and accessible carbon fibers-in-poly(ether ether ketone) tube with high stability for online in-tube solid-phase microextraction

•Cheap and accessible carbon fibers were developed as a sorbent for in-tube SPME.•The preparation process of the carbon fibers-in-PEEK tube was very simple.•Carbon fibers-in-tube exhibited high extraction efficiency for PAHs.•Online SPME-HPLC method showed good linearity and high sensitivity.•The carbon fibers-in-tube exhibited high stability.

Carbon fibers (CFs) are one kind of important industrial materials that can be obtained commercially at low price. Based on the high extraction efficiency of carbon sorbents, a cheap and accessible carbon fibers-in-poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) tube was developed for online in-tube solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method. Coupled to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the CFs-in-tube SPME was applied to analyze eight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in environmental aqueous samples. Extraction conditions (sampling rate, extraction time, methanol content) and desorption time were investigated for optimization of conditions. Under the optimum conditions, the CFs-in-tube SPME-HPLC method provided high extraction efficiency with enrichment factors up to 1748. Good linearity (0.05–50 μg L−1, 0.5–50 μg L−1) and low detection limits (0.01–0.1 μg L−1) were also obtained. The online analysis method was finally applied to determine several model PAHs analytes in real environmental aqueous samples. Some target analytes were detected and relative recoveries were in the range of 92.3–111%. Due to natural chemical stability of carbon fibers and PEEK tube, the CFs-in-tube device exhibited high resistance to organic solvent, acid and alkaline conditions.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide