Single-walled carbon nanohorn as new solid-phase extraction adsorbent for determination of 4-nitrophenol in water sample

Single-walled carbon nanohorn (SWCNH) was developed as new adsorbent for solid-phase extraction using 4-nitrophenol as representative. The unique exoteric structures and high surface area of SWCNH allow extracting a large amount of 4-nitrophenol over a short time. Highly sensitive determination of 4-nitrophenol was achieved by linear sweep voltammetry after only 120 s extraction. The calibration plot for 4-nitrophenol determination is linear in the range of 5.0 × 10−8 M–1.0 × 10−5 M under optimum conditions. The detection limit is 1.1 × 10−8 M. The proposed method was successfully employed to determine 4-nitrophenol in lake water samples, and the recoveries of the spiked 4-nitrophenol were excellent (92–106%).