Barium Sulfate Nanoparticles as a Coating for Solid-Phase Microextraction of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Aqueous Samples

Owing to the high toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their low content in the environment, the development of efficient analysis methods is very important. In this work, an extraction tube was developed through filling barium sulfate nanoparticle-coated basalt fibers (BFs) in a poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) tube. According to the characterization result by scanning electron microscopy, BFs were evenly covered with barium sulfate nanoparticles, and their diameter was about 11 mu m. To sensitively determine PAHs, the extraction tube was connected to a high-performance liquid chromatography instrument with diode array detector for an online enrichment and detection method. By optimizing sampling volume, sampling rate, the content of methanol in sample and desorption time, the analysis method provided a wide linear range (0.30-20 mu g L- 1) and high enrichment ratio (71-2095), and was useful for the efficient detection of PAHs in environmental aqueous samples.