Development of a 3D-Printable, Porous, and Chemically Active Material Filled with Silica Particles and its Application to the Fabrication of a Microextraction Device

We report on the first successfulattempt to producea silica/polymercomposite with retained C18 silica sorptive properties that can bereliably printed using three-dimensional (3D) FDM printing. A 3D printerprovides an exceptional tool for producing complex objects in an easyand inexpensive manner and satisfying the current custom demand ofresearch. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is the most popular 3D-printingtechnique based on the extrusion of a thermoplastic material. Thelack of appropriate materials limits the development of advanced applicationsinvolving directly 3D-printed devices with intrinsic chemical activity.Progress in sample preparation, especially for complex sample matricesand when mass spectrometry is favorable, remains a vital researchfield. Silica particles, for example, which are commonly used forextraction, cannot be directly extruded and are not readily workablein a powder form. The availability of composite materials containinga thermoplastic polymer matrix and dispersed silica particles wouldaccelerate research in this area. This paper describes how to preparea polypropylene (PP)/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene(ABS)/C18-functionalized silica composite that can be processed byFDM 3D printing. We present a method for producing the filament aswell as a procedure to remove ABS by acetone rinsing (to activatethe material). The result is an activated 3D-printed object with aporous structure that allows access to silica particles while maintainingmacroscopic size and shape. The 3D-printed device is intended foruse in a solid-phase microextraction (SPME) procedure. The proposedcomposite's effectiveness is demonstrated for the microextractionof glimepiride, imipramine, and carbamazepine. The complex honeycombgeometry of the sorbent has shown to be superior to the simple tubularsorbent, which proves the benefits of 3D printing. The 3D-printedsorbent's shape and microextraction parameters were fine-tunedto provide satisfactory recoveries (33-47%) and high precision(2-6%), especially for carbamazepine microextraction.

Automated summary

This study successfully produced a silica/polymer composite with retained C18 silica sorptive properties that can be reliably printed using three-dimensional (3D) FDM printing. This composite material is a significant advancement in sample preparation, particularly for complex sample matrices and when mass spectrometry is favorable. An activated 3D-printed object was achieved, allowing access to silica particles while maintaining macroscopic size and shape.