Magnetic multi-wall carbon nanotube nanocomposite as an adsorbent for preconcentration and determination of lead (II) and manganese (II) in various matrices

Magnetic multi-wall carbon nanotube (MMWCNT) nanocomposite was synthesized and used as an adsorbent for preconcentration and determination of lead (II) and manganese (II). The properties of MMWCNT were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR). This adsorbent was found to be advantageous over conventional solid phase extraction (SPE) in terms of operational simplicity and low time-consuming. MMWCNT, carrying target metals, was easily separated from the aqueous solutions with the help of an external magnet; so, no filtration or centrifugation was necessary. After extraction and collection of MMWCNT, the adsorbed analytes were eluted and analyzed by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of different sorption/desorption parameters. Under the optimized conditions, detection limits and enhancement factors of the proposed method for Pb and Mn were 1.0 and 0.6 µg L−1, 390 and 697 respectively. The presented procedure was successfully applied for determination of Pb(II) and Mn (II) contents in lipstick, rice samples and accuracy was evaluated analyzing a certified reference material Seronorm™ Urine LOT NO2525.