Customized oxygen-rich biochar with ultrahigh microporosity for ideal solid phase microextraction of substituted benzenes

The synergistic effect of high microporosity and abundant heteroatoms is important for improving the performance of biochar in various fields. However, it is still challenging to create enough micropores for biochar, while simultaneously retaining the heteroatoms from biomass. A series of biochar with variable microstructures was successfully prepared by carbonization and following ball milling on lotus pedicel (LP), watermelon rind (WR), and litchi rind (LR). The pore structures and heteroatoms of biochar were characterized in detail. Notably, high microporosity could be realized by the carbonization of LR, and further ball milling resulted in a higher microporous surface area (1323.4 m2·g−1) and richer oxygen. Furthermore, the obtained biochar was fabricated as solid phase microextraction (SPME) coatings with uniform morphologies and similar thicknesses to deeply investigate the relationships between the microstructures and extraction performance. The best performance was demonstrated by the LR800BM, with enrichment factors from 1780 to 155,217. Finally, it was coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) to develop an analytical method with a wide linear range (1–50,000 ng·L−1), low limits of detection (0.10–1.4 ng·L−1), good repeatability (0.83 %–7.5 %) and reproducibility (4.2 %–8.9 %). This work provides valuable insights into the structure-performance relationship of biochar, which is important for the design of high-performance biochar-based adsorbents and their applications in the environment.