A review on the usability of graphene/graphene oxide based sorbents in solid phase extraction technique

Some metals are needed in the regular functions of living organisms, albeit in very small amounts, so the presence of these metals becomes important (such as copper, zinc, iron, etc.). However, some of them are toxic and these toxic metals are accepted as dangerous trace metals for the environment and food in which people live. These metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, zinc, iron, copper, manganese, chromium) can be harmful due to their conversion to toxic components at high concentrations. Therefore, in modern analytical chemistry there is a tendency to develop simple, environmentally safe, sensitive and selective methods for the determination of trace metals. Due to the low concentration of trace metals, a separation and preconcentration technique is often required. One of the most commonly used techniques is the solid phase extraction (SPE) technique. Recent tendency in the field of solid phase extraction is related to synthesis of the new sorbent materials with good performance, such as high resistance to acids and bases, selective for analytes, large surface area and high adsorption capacity. Because of the maximum adsorption capacities of graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO) are much higher than those of the recently reported sorbents, G and GO nanosheets can be used in classical SPE of both organic compounds and metal species, with successfully.