A silver fibre prepared by a facile method for solid-phase microextraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Abstract

Environmental contextPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are widespread environmental contaminants of human health concern because of their carcinogenicity. The compounds have low water solubility and thus their measurement in water requires an efficient preconcentration step. We report a simple method for concentrating polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from environmental water samples based on their absorption onto a silver fibre. AbstractThe development of highly efficient fibres by a simple preparation method is still a research focus for solid-phase microextraction (SPME). A facile reaction was used to generate a silver coating on silver wire for SPME. The reaction of silver with hydrogen peroxide is very slow, but the formation of [Ag(NH3)2]+ by adding ammonia reduces the electrode potential and increases the reaction rate. The silver fibre was characterised by scanning electron microscopy. Using gas chromatography, the silver fibre was evaluated using polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as model analytes. Under optimised extraction conditions, an analysis method was established. A wide linear range (0.06–100 μg L−1) with a good linear coefficient (0.9896–0.9995) and a low detection limit (0.02–0.10 μg L−1) were achieved. The analysis method was used to analyse rainwater and lake water, and achieved a satisfactory recovery (86.3–119 %). The results indicate that the proposed silver fibre has practical applications in environmental analysis.