Fabrication of a hydrophobic surface as a new supported liquid membrane for microfluidic based liquid phase microextraction device using modified boehmite nanoparticles (AlOO-NSPO)

Abstract

For the first time, modified nanomaterials are introduced to the prepared polyethersulfone (PES) membrane to fabricate a hydrophobic membrane. The effectiveness of the prepared membrane in a microfluidic device based on liquid phase microextraction (LPME) was evaluated for the determination of mesalazine, an anti-inflammatory drug, in water. The PES membrane was constructed using the phase inversion method. Modified boehmite (AlOO-NSPO) nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of the PES membrane by a dip-coating method. The chemical composition and morphological study of the membrane surface and nanoparticles were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and static water contact angle (WCA). A significant switch from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity was observed when the water contact angle of the membrane increased from 65.4° for PES to 97.3° for PES- (AlOO-NSPO) membrane. The performance of the new membrane and the effects of the operational parameters were evaluated in a microfluidic system based on LPME. Compared with the commercial membrane, the modified synthetic membrane with a larger pore size and porosity had a noticeable improvement under the optimum operating conditions (flow rate, 0.01 mL/min; donor phase pH, 4.5; acceptor phase pH, 12; and solvent, 1-Butanol). Furthermore, the modified membrane had an acceptable reusability, showing an extraction efficiency of 90 % after three repeated runs.