The use of graphene-based magnetic nanoparticles as adsorbent for the extraction of triazole fungicides from environmental water

A graphene-based magnetic nanocomposite (graphene-ferriferrous oxide; G-Fe3O4) was synthesized and used as an effective adsorbent for the preconcentration of some triazole fungicides (myclobutanil, tebuconazole, and hexaconazole) in environmental water samples prior to high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection. The method, which takes the advantages of both nanoparticle adsorption and magnetic phase separation from the sample solution, could avoid the time-consuming experimental procedures commonly involved in the traditional solid phase extraction such as centrifugation and filtrations. Various experimental parameters affecting the extraction efficiencies such as the amount of the magnetic nanocomposite, extraction time, the pH values of the sample solution, salt concentration, and desorption conditions were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, the enrichment factors of the method for the three analytes were 5824, 3600, and 4761, respectively. A good linearity was observed in the range of 0.150 ng/mL for tebuconazole and 0.0550 ng/mL for myclobutanil and hexaconazole, respectively, with the correlation coefficients ranging from 0.9992 to 0.9996. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) of the method were between 0.005 and 0.01 ng/mL. The results indicated that as a magnetic solid-phase extraction adsorbent, the graphene-ferriferrous oxide (G-Fe3O4) has a great potential for the preconcentration of some compounds from liquid samples.