Abstract
Since its discovery in 2004 by Novoselov et al., graphene has attracted increasing attention in the scientific community due to its excellent physical and chemical properties, such as thermal/mechanical resistance, electronic stability, high Young's modulus, and fast mobility of charged atoms. In addition, other remarkable characteristics support its use in analytical chemistry, especially as sorbent. For these reasons, graphene-based materials (GBMs) have been used as a promising material in sample preparation. Graphene and graphene oxide, owing to their excellent physical and chemical properties as a large surface area, good mechanical strength, thermal stability, and delocalized π-electrons, are ideal sorbents, especially for molecules containing aromatic rings. They have been used in several sample preparation techniques such as solid-phase extraction (SPE), stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE), as well as in miniaturized modes as solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in their different configurations. However, the reduced size and weight of graphene sheets can limit their use since they commonly aggregate to each other, causing clogging in high-pressure extractive devices. One way to overcome it and other drawbacks consists of covalently attaching the graphene sheets to support materials (e.g., silica, polymers, and magnetically modified supports). Also, graphene-based materials can be further chemically modified to favor some interactions with specific analytes, resulting in more efficient hybrid sorbents with higher selectivity for specific chemical classes. As a result of this wide variety of graphene-based sorbents, several studies have shown the current potential of applying GBMs in different fields such as food, biological, pharmaceutical, and environmental applications. Within such a context, this review will focus on the last five years of achievements in graphene-based materials for sample preparation techniques highlighting their synthesis, chemical structure, and potential application for the extraction of target analytes in different complex matrices.
Highlights
Over the last decades, nanotechnology has become a promising tool in relevant scientific fields, allowing humanity to reach top levels of quality in several areas such as engineering, chemistry, medicine, and sports, among others (Lin et al, 2019)
Following the background regarding the emerging of graphene, this review aims to present the state-of-art about this “wonder material” from a sample preparation viewpoint
Graphene-based materials have increasingly seemed to be the right candidate since their first application in sample preparation around 2011
Summary
Nanotechnology has become a promising tool in relevant scientific fields, allowing humanity to reach top levels of quality in several areas such as engineering, chemistry, medicine, and sports, among others (Lin et al, 2019). The atomic monolayers’ existence would only be possible to exist as an epitaxially-grown part of 3D complex structures This theory was confronted by experimental observations reported in 2004, which preceded the discovery of more than one type of 2D atomic monolayers, highlighting graphene as the most important of them (Geim and Novoselov, 2007). For this reason, graphene theoretically represents a new class of materials possessing a one-atom thickness that, due to its intrinsic properties, are creating new possibilities of practical applications and becoming a hot topic in science
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