Electrodeposition of a copolymer nanocomposite for the headspace solid-phase microextraction of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes

In this study, polyaniline-co-poly(o-toluidine)/graphene oxide nanosheets composite was electrodeposited on the surface of a stainless steel wire as a new coating for headspace solid-phase microextraction of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The characteristics of the new coating were evaluated by the scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. To study the coating performance, the influence of various parameters such as deposition potential and time, concentration of the monomers and GONSs, desorption temperature and time, extraction temperature and time and ionic strength on BTEX extraction efficiency was investigated. At the optimum conditions, the linear ranges and detection limits (S/N = 3) were found 0.01-50 and 0.001-0.05 ng mL(-1), respectively. The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations (RSDs) at 0.5 ng mL(-1) concentration level (n = 5) using a single-fiber were from 5.4 to 8.3 and 7.5 to 10.3%, respectively. The fiber-to-fiber RSDs % (n = 3) was between 8.4 and 12.5%. Finally, the development method was applied to the analysis of various real samples.