Analysis Of Environmental Samples Research Articles

Property of arylsulfatase and β-glucuronidase extracted from digestive tracts of Cipangopaludina chinensis and their cleavage performance on conjugated natural estrogens.

Arylsulfatase and β-glucuronidase are the two substantial enzymes having a significant role in the cleavage of conjugated natural estrogens (C-NEs). The present study reports that arylsulfatase and β-glucuronidase have been abundantly found in the digestive tracts of Cipangopaludina chinensis; in which, their corresponding activities were 60 and 5 U/g wet waste, respectively. The arylsulfatase from Cipangopaludina chinensis could show high activity at low temperatures. Hence, its activity still remained at 53.2% of maximal activity even at an extremely low temperature of 4 ℃; while the corresponding activities of arylsulfatase from Helix pomatia or activated sludge were less than 20% and 10%, respectively. The arylsulfatase and β-glucuronidase from Cipangopaludina chinensis could efficiently cleave C-NEs suggesting that they could be alternative enzymes derived from Helix pomatia that are used for cleavage of conjugated compounds in environmental or biological sample analysis. Meanwhile, they might also be used to enhance the cleavage of C-NEs in municipal wastewater.

Design of a novel hapten and development of a sensitive monoclonal immunoassay for dicamba analysis in environmental water samples

Weed resistance to glyphosate has been a driving force behind the increased use of alternative herbicides in agriculture. Recently, dicamba-tolerant recombinant plants were introduced to the market, which may result in residues of this agrochemical contaminating environmental waters. Given that restrictions on the use of dicamba have consequently been established by regulatory agencies, it is therefore also desirable to conduct extensive controls on dicamba residues. Immunoassays are currently the most powerful bioanalytical technology for the rapid monitoring of chemical residues and contaminants. In the present study, a novel hapten was designed maintaining unaltered all the antigenic moieties of the target molecule, and this was used to generate high-affinity monoclonal antibodies against dicamba for the first time. Additionally, a collection of haptens with different linker composition or linker tethering site was synthesized and conjugated to proteins. Using these novel immunoreagents, a direct competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with a limit of detection for dicamba of 0.24 ng/mL was developed and validated. Analysis of water samples from different origins afforded recovery values between 90 % and 120 %, and coefficients of variation below 20 % were obtained. These results indicate that the developed immunochemical assay is suitable for the rapid determination of dicamba residues in environmental water samples.

Application of solid-phase microextraction in atomic spectrometry

With the growing requirements for the monitoring of heavy metals at an ultra-trace level in the environment and the real-time detection of toxic elements and their compounds for environmental pollution accidents, researchers devoted significant efforts to seeking atomic spectrometric methods that can be used for the simple, low cost, rapid, and field usable detection of targeted elements and their pollutants. Although conventional atomic spectrometric methods can easily realize the routine analysis of toxic elements in various samples in the laboratory, their bulky instruments and the complex sample matrix of environmental samples limit their further applications in field environmental analysis and complex sample analysis. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is an environmentally-friendly sample pre-treatment technique, which can significantly simplify sample pretreatment, increase sensitivity, and reduce the interference from the sample matrix, thus being one of the most ideal sampling techniques for the detection of ultra-trace toxic elements and their compounds by atomic spectrometry (AS) with high sensitivity and good selectivity. During the past decades, significant developments of SPME-AS including novel coating nanomaterials, desorption mode, miniaturized spectrometer, and its use for field elemental analysis have been made to improve the analytical performance in the detection of toxic elements and their pollutants. Herein, we present a short review concerning recent advances in elemental analysis by SPME-AS. Particularly, we highlight their application in the field of environmental analysis based on combing SPME with the available microplasma-based atomic spectrometer. The conclusion section addresses the current challenges and gives an outlook on potential future trends in the field of elemental analysis and elemental speciation analysis.

Facile synthesis of new magnetic sorbent based on MOF-on-MOF for simultaneous extraction and determination of three benzodiazepines in various environmental water samples using dispersive micro solid-phase extraction and HPLC

An efficient and facile sample preparation method based on dispersive micro solid-phase extraction (DµSPE) was presented to extract three benzodiazepines (BZDs), including clobazam, clonazepam, and oxcarbazepine, in real water samples. A Hybrid core–shell MOFs (MIL-100(Fe)@MIL-53(Fe)) was synthesized as the main component of the DµSPE sorbent using chemical and hydrothermal methods and magnetized with Fe3O4 nanoparticles using the sol–gel technique. The ability of the sorbent to extract BZDs was compared with each sorbent component. Factors that affected the method were optimized using one factor at a time and design of experiment strategy (a definitive screening design and a central composite design). The method presents wide linearity of 0.1–276, 0.2–368, and 0.1–314 ng mL−1 for determining clobazam, clonazepam, and oxcarbazepine with the determination coefficients (R2) higher than 0.9923, respectively. LODs for the determination of clobazam, clonazepam, and oxcarbazepine were 0.03, 0.06, and 0.03 ng mL−1. The method shows the intra-day and inter-day RSDs lower than 2.5 and 3.0 %, and preconcentration factors higher than 817 for determining BZDs, respectively. Besides, analysis of environmental water samples with the method for measuring BZDs with the recoveries of 92.5–97.6 % and relative standard deviations of 3.1–4.3 % indicated the method has a good ability to analyze real samples, especially environmental water samples.

The environmental factors used in correlation analysis with microbial community of environmental and cultural heritage samples

Nucleotide sequences and genomics data are increasing used in analysis of microbial characteristics in community composition and diversity for a wide range of samples. At the same time, correlation analysis is used in an effort to make connection to the non-biological factors, including physical and chemical ones, in shaping the microbiome. Chemical analysis of environmental samples of soils and sediments is a routine procedure to obtain the concentrations of various chemical nutrients in 2M KCl extract which are widely reported in papers, but a better and a more meaningful practice is to use porewater of the samples for the chemical analysis if possible. In a similar way, meteorological data of the ambient conditions are used for correlation analysis with the microbiome on outdoor cultural heritage, but the in situ variables of the heritage objects are rarely measured at the time of sampling with a genuine effort. For cultural heritage, the intricate interactions between temperature and humidity of the ambient environment are critically important to the in situ conditions and variabilities of the water available on the surface and inside the heritage objects, so a more close and accurate measurements at the sampling location and the time of sampling is needed for improvement of cultural heritage research. In addition, the statistical results are inference from the available data, but not a confirmation on any relationship. Further experimental verification is required to advance the potential relation for establishment of the science, cause-and-effect. Because of these, proposal is made here to increase the awareness of these issues and practice so that future research can take them into account to improve the research experiments for better results in a positive way to enhance the knowledge on these subject matters to advance the science as the final goal.

Sensitive detection of levofloxacin and copper (II) based on fluorescence “turn on-off” of biomass carbonized polymer dots

A novel type of biomass carbonized polymer dots (CS-CPDs) with green fluorescence emission were synthesized via a one-step microwave-assisted method, using chitosan and maleic acid as the precursors. The fluorescence intensity of CS-CPDs was selectively enhanced (turn on) with increasing levofloxacin (LEV) concentration based on Aggregation Induced Emission Enhancement. The linear range of this method was 1–35 μmol/L, with the limit of detection of 0.20 μmol/L. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the fluorescence intensity of CS-CPDs/LEV was restored (turn on-off) due to the addition of copper (II), which could assemble a more stable Cu2+/LEV complex through coordination. For the first time, CS-CPDs were utilized as a selective fluorescent “turn on-off” probe for the continuous detection of LEV and Cu2+. Excellent results were also obtained in environmental water samples analysis with recoveries ranging of 91.3–99.6% and 97.7–113.4%, respectively. Moreover, the prepared CS-CPDs exhibited excellent optical stability and large Stokes shift (139 nm), which predicted broad application prospects in the field of fluorescence sensing.

Automatic Microtitrator for Small Volume Samples.

Electroanalytical sensors for point-of-care biomedical or point-of-use environmental sample analysis are gaining popularity due to low limits of detection, ease of miniaturization, convenience, and ability to work with small sample volumes. Since pH must be tightly controlled for optimum electrochemical performance, adjustment of pH in these samples is often a necessity. Yet manual titration is time-consuming and can be especially challenging for small volumes. End point determination can also be difficult. Current commercial automatic pH titrators are generally designed for large volume (>1 mL) batch titrations, while the existing microvolume titrators are semiautomatic at best, still relying on multiple manual steps. To address the gap, we developed an automatic microtitration system suitable for small volume samples. The system was validated using digested whole blood microsamples, successfully demonstrating accurate and rapid pH adjustment for samples as small as 100 μL. The simple modular construction of the system makes it compatible with acid washing for trace metal detection and other cleaning or sample preparation steps. The electrochemical detection of manganese heavy metal in blood at the parts per billion level showed no detectable contamination induced by the system. Ultimately, our simple, accurate, user-friendly automatic microtitration system can be used in the pH adjustment of microvolume samples and can potentially be extended to other pH end point analysis.

Role of Förster Resonance Energy Transfer in Graphene-Based Nanomaterials for Sensing

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based fluorescence sensing of various target analytes has been of growing interest in the environmental, bioimaging, and diagnosis fields. Graphene-based zero- (0D) to two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, such as graphene quantum dots (GQDs), graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and graphdiyne (GD), can potentially be employed as donors/acceptors in FRET-based sensing approaches because of their unique electronic and photoluminescent properties. In this review, we discuss the basics of FRET, as well as the role of graphene-based nanomaterials (GQDs, GO, rGO, and GD) for sensing various analytes, including cations, amino acids, explosives, pesticides, biomolecules, bacteria, and viruses. In addition, the graphene-based nanomaterial sensing strategy could be applied in environmental sample analyses, and the reason for the lower detection ranges (micro- to pico-molar concentration) could also be explained in detail. Challenges and future directions for designing nanomaterials with a new sensing approach and better sensing performance will also be highlighted.

Development of Nanomaterials-fabricated Paper-based Sensors for the Analysis of Environmental and Biological Samples: A Review

Background: Currently, the environmental and biological samples, such as water, soil, vegetables, etc., are highly contaminated with metal ions, anions and pesticides. For analysis of these toxic substances from the environmental and biological samples, sophisticated and expensive instruments are being used. The present work deals with the development of a simple, faster, sensitive and economical method for the analysis of toxic substances present in different samples. Methods: The general methods for synthesis and characterization of metallic (Ag, Au, Cu and graphene) nanoparticles and conductive polymer for the development of conductive nano-ink and fabrication of paper substrate by direct deposition and laser, wax, or inkjet printing techniques, have been reported. Results: Paper-based sensors fabricated with different nanomaterials used as colorimetric, electrochemical and fluorescence-based chemical sensors for the quantitative determination of pesticides and toxic metal ions in various biological and clinical samples have been comprehensively discussed in this review. Conclusion: The low-cost, rapid, eco-friendly, flexible, portable, and paper-based sensors using nanoparticles (NPs) are in demand for on-site detection of different chemical constituents present in various environmental, biological and clinical samples.

Electromembrane Extraction and Dual-Channel Nanoelectrospray Ionization Coupled with a Miniature Mass Spectrometer: Incorporation of a Dicationic Ionic Liquid-Induced Charge Inversion Strategy.

Green analytical chemistry aims at developing analytical methods with minimum use and generation of hazardous substances for the protection of human health and the environment. To address this need, a green analytical protocol has been developed for the analysis of anionic compounds integrating electromembrane extraction (EME), dual-channel nanoelectrospray ionization (nanoESI), and a miniature mass spectrometer. Haloacetic acids (HAAs) have attracted considerable public concern due to their adverse effects on human health and were selected as model analytes for method development. A flat membrane EME device was developed and assembled in-house. Optimization of fundamental operational parameters was performed using single-factor test and response surface methodology. Both the EME acceptor phase and an imidazolium-based dicationic ionic liquid (DIL), 1,1-bis(3-methylimidazolium-1-yl) butylene difluoride (C4(MIM)2F2), were subjected to dual-channel nanoESI and miniature mass spectrometry analysis based on a charge inversion strategy, where positively charged complexes were formed. Enhancement in signal intensity by as much as 2 magnitudes was achieved in the positive-ion mode compared to the negative-ion mode in the absence of the dicationic ion-pairing agent. The developed protocol was validated, obtaining good recoveries ranging from 82.7 to 109.9% and satisfactory sensitivity with limits of detection (LODs) and quantitation (LOQs) in the ranges of 1-5 and 2-10 μg/L, respectively. The greenness of the analytical procedure was assessed with a calculated score of 0.71, indicating a high degree of greenness. The developed method was applied to the analysis of real environmental or municipal water samples (n = 16), exhibiting appealing potential for outside-the-laboratory applications.

Digital Droplet PCR to Track SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak in a Hospital Transitional Care Unit

We describe a large outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 on a transition unit composed of elderly patients awaiting placement. Environmental and patient sample analyses using ddPCR suggested possible fomite transmission and high viral burden source from a few individual patients. This outbreak illustrates challenges inherent to this specific patient population.

Development of sol-gel silica-based mixed-mode zwitterionic sorbents for determining drugs in environmental water samples

Four novel mixed-mode zwitterionic silica-based functionalized with strong moieties sorbents were synthesized and evaluated through solid-phase extraction (SPE) to determine acidic and basic drugs in environmental water samples. All sorbents had the same functionalization: quaternary amine and sulfonic groups and C18 chains so that hydrophobic and strong cationic exchange (SCX) and strong anionic exchange (SAX) interactions could be exploited, in addition, two of them had carbon microparticles embedded.All sorbents retained both acidic and basic compounds in the preliminary assays but only the basic compounds were retained selectively through ionic exchange interactions when a clean-up step was introduced. The SPE method was therefore optimized to promote the selective retention of the basic compounds, initially with the two best-performing sorbents.After optimization of the SPE protocol, these sorbents were evaluated for the analysis of environmental water samples using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The method with the best-performing sorbent was then validated with 100 mL of river samples and 50 mL of effluent wastewater samples in terms of apparent recoveries (%Rapp) spiking samples at 50 ng/L (river) and 200 ng/L (river and effluent), matrix effect, linear range, method quantification and detection limits, repeatability, and reproducibility. It should be highlighted that %Rapp ranged from 40 to 85% and matrix effects ranged from -17 to -4% for spiked river samples. When the method was applied to river and effluent wastewater samples, most compounds were found in the range from 24 to 1233 ng/L with detection limits from 1 to 5 ng/L.

Reduced graphene oxide on silver nanoparticle layers-decorated titanium dioxide nanotube arrays as SERS-based sensor for glyphosate direct detection in environmental water and soil

When glyphosate, a widely used organophosphate herbicide in agricultural applications, contaminates the environment, it could lead to chronic harm to human health. Herein, an efficient, air-stable and reusable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate was designed to be an analytical tool for direct determination of glyphosate. A vertical heterostructure of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-wrapped dual-layers silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on titania nanotube (TiO2 NTs) arrays was constructed as a SERS substrate. The TiO2 NTs/AgNPs-rGO exhibited high SERS performance for methylene blue detection, offering an analytical enhancement factor (AEF) as large as 7.1 × 108 and the limit of detection (LOD) as low as 10−14 M with repeatability of 4.4 % relative standard deviation (RSD) and reproducibility of 2.0 % RSD. The sensor was stable in ambient and was reusable after photo-degradation. The designed sensor was successfully applied for glyphosate detection with a LOD of 3 µg/L, which is below the maximum contaminant level of glyphosate in environmental water, as recommended by the U.S. EPA and the European Union. A uniqueness of this study is that there is no significant difference between the real-world applications of the SERS sensor on direct glyphosate analysis in environmental samples compared to an analysis using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography.

Cheap and Sustainable Biosensor Fabrication by Enzyme Immobilization in Commercial Polyacrylic Acid/Carbon Nanotube Films

Novel glucose biosensors were constructed by loading glucose oxidase (GOx) into the nanopores of homogenous carbon nanotube (CNT) films on the surface of Pt disk electrodes and trapping the enzyme by subsequent deposition of polyacrylic acid (PAA), forming PAA/GOx-CNT-modified Pt disks. In amperometric biosensing with anodic hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) detection at a potential of +600 mV, increasing electrolyte glucose concentrations produced instantaneous steps in the H2O2 oxidation current. Glucose biosensor amperometry was feasible down to 10 μM, with a sensitivity of about 34 μA mM–1 cm–2 and linear current response up to 5 mM. The biosensors reliably determined glucose concentrations in human serum and a beverage. Successful trials with PAA/GOx-CNT-modified screen-printed Pt electrode disks demonstrated the potential of this means of enzyme fixation in biosensor mass fabrication, which offers a unique combination of cheap availability of the two matrix constituents and sensor layer formation through simple drop-and-dry steps. PAA/GOx-CNT/Pt biosensors are green and user-friendly bioanalytical tools that do not need large budgets, special skills, or laboratory amenities for their production. Any user, from industrial, university, or school laboratories, even if inexperienced in biosensor construction, can prepare functional biosensors with GOx, as in these proof-of-principle studies, or with other redox enzymes, for clinical, environmental, pharmaceutical, or food sample analysis.

Long-Time Evaluation of Solid-State Composite Reference Electrodes.

In this study, the performance and long-time evaluation of solid-state composite (SSC) reference electrodes were investigated. The stability of all the SSC reference electrodes was continuously monitored by using potentiometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods over a period of several months. A multi-solution protocol was used to study the influence of the ionic strength of the sample solution, ion charge, and mobility, and the sample pH values on the performance of the reference electrodes. The SSC reference electrodes were used in the calibration of commercial indicator electrodes for different ions at different temperatures. The concentrations of K+, Na+, Ca2+, and Cl- ions and pH values were measured in river water samples at different temperatures using the SSC reference electrodes. The obtained results for the same samples were compared with the results given by an independent laboratory specialized in routine water analyses. The agreement between the results was very good and even better than the case where commercial reference electrodes were used. Our study showed that the SSC reference electrodes exhibit good long-term stability and excellent performance, both in the calibrations and analyses of environmental samples.

Examination of compost maturity using reflectance

Composting is one of the most popular recycling processes for organic waste. Composting plays an important role in waste and by-product management and is becoming increasingly important in both sustainable energy management and circular economy. Composting transforms organic matter to produce a safe and stable by-product (compost) that can be applied to arable land in a similar way to fertilizer. Physical, chemical and biological methods can be used to monitor the process and to determine the maturity of the compost, as spectrometric/spectroscopic methods play an important role in the analysis of different environmental samples. Our aim was to (1) non-destructively detect the effects of different additive ratios on the spectral properties of the composting process and the spectral data of different compost mixtures, (2) to find the wavelength ranges of the reflectance curve (inflection points) sensitive to compost maturity, (3) to determine the correlation between the inflection points and the chemical and physical parameters measured in compost by conventional methods. The mixture of broiler and hen manure and zeolite was composted 62 days in windrow composting. In the composting experiment, the moisture content and temperature (°C) were measured every three days and compost samples were taken and in 10% destillated aquaeous suspension were measured the pH and electrical conductivity (mS cm-1). Compost samples dried to mass stability were spectrally analyzed in the wavelength range 400–1000 nm with AvaSpec 2048 spectrometer. Based on the results, the reflectance of mature compost were smaller in the last days of composting than the reflectance values of day 0 samples, thus compost maturity can be detected spectral in the VIS-NIR wavelength range. For the tested compost prisms, the reflectance of each sampling day shows a constant slope, with a significant overlap of the reflectance curves up to 400–700 nm wavelength range, and there was a breakpoint in the 700–750 nm wavelength range which was proved by binary encoding.

Development of 4-aminophenol sensor based on Co-MoS2 nanomaterials decorated on glassy carbon electrode using electrochemical technique

The present research discusses the incorporation of cobalt (7.5 and 10 wt%) in exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets via hydrothermal route. Phase purity and crystal structure of prepared Co doped MoS2 were confirmed with XRD. To observe the attached functional groups and presence of Mo-O characteristic peak, FTIR was used. Optical properties, surface morphology and agglomeration of layers were visualized through UV/Visible spectroscopy, FESEM and HR-TEM, respectively. In this study, sensitive 4-aminophenol (4-AP) sensor was fabricated with Co-MoS2 nanomaterials (NMs) decorated on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) using electrochemical approach. The parameters of developed 4-AP sensor were systematically calculated from the calibration curve by using current versus concentration. The sensor probe response was found linear over 0.1 nM to 0.01 mM, which is known as linear dynamic range (LDR). The slope of LDR was used to calculate the sensitivity of the proposed sensor, which was measured by considering the active surface area of GCE (0.0316 cm2). It was found to be 43.0127 µAµM-1cm−2. The limit of detection (LOD; 93.48 ± 4.67 pM) of the 4-AP sensor was evaluated from the slope of the calibration curve. Other sensor parameters, such as reproducibility, repeatability, response time, validity, and stability of the fabricated sensor were found to be outstanding. The 4-AP sensor constituting Co-MoS2 NMs deposited on GCE developed by employing an electrochemical approach was perceived to be an efficient sensor for real-time analysis of environmental and extracted samples.

Precolumn Derivatization High-Performance Liquid Chromatography for Determination of Perfluorocarboxylic Acids in Catalytic Degradation Solutions.

Perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), a series of ubiquitous contaminants in the global environment, attracted much attention due to their potential for high bioaccumulation and toxicity to various organisms. There are a lot of measurement requests in currently increasing degradation studies of PFCAs, which usually rely on expensive liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The degradation solutions containing high-concentration PFCAs can easily cause the pipeline pollution of the LC/MS instrument, which is usually used for trace analysis of environmental samples. In this study, a simple and reliable precolumn derivatization LC method coupled with an ultraviolet detector (UV) was developed for the determination of the main PFCAs (C4-9) of environmental concern. These PFCAs in degradation solutions were crosslinked to UV-responsive 3, 4-diphenylamine (DCA) by a carbodiimidization method, followed by a simple solid-phase extraction (SPE) cleanup, and quantitatively measured using a conventional LC-UV instrument. Compared to previously reported precolumn derivatization methods, this new derivatization approach has the advantages such as mild reaction conditions, easy operation, enhanced stability of derivatives, and low cost. The instrumental limits of detection (ILDs) for the targeted PFCAs in organic and aqueous mediums were 0.2–0.5 and 0.6–1.5 mg/L, respectively. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of PFCAs in catalytic degradation solutions and recommended for use in other assays involving relatively high-concentration PFCAs.

Current Methods and Prospects for Analysis and Characterization of Nanomaterials in the Environment.

Analysis and characterization of naturally occurring and engineered nanomaterials in the environment are critical for understanding their environmental behaviors and defining real exposure scenarios for environmental risk assessment. However, this is challenging primarily due to the low concentration, structural heterogeneity, and dynamic transformation of nanomaterials in complex environmental matrices. In this critical review, we first summarize sample pretreatment methods developed for separation and preconcentration of nanomaterials from environmental samples, including natural waters, wastewater, soils, sediments, and biological media. Then, we review the state-of-the-art microscopic, spectroscopic, mass spectrometric, electrochemical, and size-fractionation methods for determination of mass and number abundance, as well as the morphological, compositional, and structural properties of nanomaterials, with discussion on their advantages and limitations. Despite recent advances in detecting and characterizing nanomaterials in the environment, challenges remain to improve the analytical sensitivity and resolution and to expand the method applications. It is important to develop methods for simultaneous determination of multifaceted nanomaterial properties for in situ analysis and characterization of nanomaterials under dynamic environmental conditions and for detection of nanoscale contaminants of emerging concern (e.g., nanoplastics and biological nanoparticles), which will greatly facilitate the standardization of nanomaterial analysis and characterization methods for environmental samples.

Porous aromatic framework coated stir bar sorptive extraction coupled with gas chromatography for the analysis of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in atmospheric particles and environmental water samples

In this work, porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) with different pore size were evaluated for simultaneous adsorption of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with large difference in polarity and molecular size. Two other porous organic polymers containing electron pushing/withdrawing group were investigated along for a comparison, and PAF-120 with the pore size of appr. 2.1 nm exhibited the highest extraction efficiency. Based on water contact angle and molecular dynamics simulation, the adsorption of 16 PAHs on PAF-120 was attributed to hydrophobic interaction, π-π interaction and molecular sieving effect. PAF-120/PDMS coated stir bar was then prepared by physical adhesion, and a method of stir bar sorptive extraction-gas chromatography-flame ionization detector was established for trace PAHs analysis in environmental samples. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the limits of detection (S/N = 3) for 16 PAHs were found to be in the range of 42-375 ng/L, with the relative standard deviations of 4.1-14.6% (n = 7). The enrichment factors varied from 31 (Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene) to 80-fold (anthracene), with the maximal enrichment factor of 100-fold. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of PAHs in local environmental water and atmospheric particle samples. None of the 16 PAHs were detected in the collected water samples. While for the collected atmospheric particles, 12 PAHs were detected in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) within the range of 0.6-2.8 ng/m3. For inhalable particulate matter (PM10) and total suspended particulate matter (TSP), 16 PAHs were all detected in the range of 0.6-3.8 ng/m3 and 0.6-5.9 ng/m3, respectively. Quantitative recoveries were obtained in recovery test, demonstrating the accuracy and application potential of the proposed method.