Novel polyaniline/graphenized graphene fibers for solid phase microextraction

Application of graphene in solid phase microextraction (SPME), needs to be integrated into macroscopic architectures such as fibers to realize the excellent properties of individual graphene sheets. Recently, simple and effective methods for the synthesis of freestanding exfoliated graphene sheets from graphite have been investigated using laser ablation, arc-discharge, solvothermal/electrochemical methods, chemical [1] and electrochemical [2,3] exfoliation process. Conducting polymers show great promise as coating materials. Polyaniline (PANI) was widely used for preparing SPME coatings, due to its porous structure and large specific surface area. Since PANI is a conductive polymer, it could been made by electrochemical methods [4]. In this study an in situ facile Polyaniline/graphenized graphene coating was proven successfully by electrochemistry methods using commercial pencil lead. Voltage and number of pulses, number of scans, scan rate and monomer concentration were optimized. Application potential of this newly developed fiber in SPME were proven. This novel coating showed large specific area, high chemical stability, good extraction efficiency and low cost. The resulting coating was characterized by FT-IR spectral analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The extraction performance of the new fiber was evaluated by some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.