Abstract
Progesterone, an endocrine-disrupting chemical, has been frequently detected in wastewater for decades, posing a serious threat to ecological and human health. However, it is still a challenge to achieve the effective detection of progesterone in complex matrices water samples. In this study, a novel adsorbent CNT@CS/P(MAA) was prepared by grafting methacrylic polymers on the surface of modified carbon nanomaterials. Compared with other reported materials, the hybrid carbon nanomaterial could selectively identify the progesterone in the complex industrial pharmaceutical wastewater, and its adsorption performance is almost independent of the pH and environmental temperature. In addition, this nanomaterial could be reused with a good recovery rate. The prepared nanomaterials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption and desorption experiments, and thermogravimetric analysis. The results confirmed that the methacrylic polymers and chitosan layer were successfully grafted on the surface of carbon nanotubes. Adsorption isotherms, adsorption kinetics, and selectivity tests showed that CNT@CS/P(MAA) had a high adsorption capacity (44.45 mg·g-1), a fast adsorption rate and a satisfied selectivity for progesterone. Then, CNT@CS/P(MAA) was used as solid phase extraction sorbent and combined with HPLC to enrich progesterone from the wastewater samples. Under the optimum conditions, a good linearity was obtained with the correlation coefficient was 0.9998, and the limit of detection was 0.003 ng·mL-1. Therefore, this method could be used for the selective and effective detection of progesterone in industrial wastewater with complex substrates and provided a new method for the detection of progesterone in other environmental waters.
Highlights
The presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment has attracted extensive attention from the public for their ability to impair reproductive and immune functions of aquatic organisms (Du et al 2018, Zhang et al 2017)
Compared with other reported materials, the hybrid carbon nanomaterial could selectively identify the progesterone in the complex industrial pharmaceutical wastewater, and its adsorption performance is almost independent of pH and environmental temperature
The results confirmed that the methacrylic polymers and chitosan layer were successfully grafted on the surface of carbon nanotubes
Summary
The presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment has attracted extensive attention from the public for their ability to impair reproductive and immune functions of aquatic organisms (Du et al 2018, Zhang et al 2017) These chemicals include natural and synthetic hormones as well as their metabolites (Hashmi et al 2020). It has been widely applied in breast cancer therapy, endocrine regulation, drug contraception and assisted reproduction (De Lima &Spinelli 2013, Guohua et al 2017, Kumar et al.2015). It has become a main contaminant in the aquatic environment due to the massive discharge of industrial waste and urban sewage (Hashmi et al 2020). Considering the concentration of P4 in the industrial water, such methods suit for the complex media, and require high sensitivity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
