Graphene-polymer composite: extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from water samples by stir rod sorptive extraction

Due to the excellent mechanical, thermal and electrical properties, graphene/polymer composite is expected to have a variety of applications in analytical chemistry. In this study, a new poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate)/graphene composite was prepared by in situ polymerization. The new composite was used for the first time as the extraction coating of stir rod sorptive extraction for the preconcentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from water samples. Because of the high specific surface area and pi-pi electrostatic stacking properties of graphene, the graphene-polymer composite showed higher extraction efficiencies towards most target PAHs from water samples than the neat polymer. Under the optimal conditions, a method for the determination of PAHs in water samples was proposed based on the combination of stir rod sorptive extraction (SRSE) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The limit of detection (LODs) of the developed method for 16 PAHs ranged from 0.005 to 0.429 ng mL(-1), depending on the compound. Good reproducibility of method was obtained as intra- and inter-day precisions, the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were less than 12.5% and 12.6%, respectively.