Electrospun Polyacrylonitrile as a New Coating for Mechanical Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Water Samples

Abstract

A polyacrylonitrile (PAN) coating was fabricated by electrospinning technique for using as a new extraction phase in mechanical stir bar sorptive extraction (MSBSE). The setup coupled with gas chromatography (GC) was proposed and applied for the extraction and determination of some low molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water samples. The effective parameters on the extraction process were optimized by the response surface methodology (RSM) based on the central composite design (CCD). Under the optimum conditions, the limits of detection (LOD) and limits of qualification (LOQ) were 0.008–0.4 ng mL−1 and 0.02–1.3 ng mL−1, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for the analytes, including acenaphthene (Ace), anthracene (Ant), naphthalene (Nap) and phenanthrene (Phe), was less than 12.7%. The relative recoveries (RRs) were above 94%. The extraction of the analytes by the MSBSE coated with PAN consumed about 256 kWh m−3 of electric energy. The coating can be used 200 times without significant changes in its performance because of hydrophobicity and the high mechanical strength of PAN. The proposed approach to improve SBSE for extracting PAHs from water samples is cost-effective and time-efficient because the introduced coating can be fabricated in a short time and by inexpensive raw materials.