Advanced nanofibrous sorbents for the extraction of pollutants from river water and protein-containing matrices

The extraction efficiencies of thirty types of fibers produced by meltblown, alternating current electrospinning, and meltblown-co-electrospinning technologies were tested as advanced sorbents for on-line solid-phase extraction in a high-performance liquid chromatography system have been tested and compared with a commercial C18 sorbent. The properties of each fiber, which were often depended on the production process, and their applicability were demonstrated with the extraction of the model analytes nitrophenols and chlorophenols from various matrices including river water and to purify complex matrix human serum and bovine serum albumin from macromolecular ballast. Polycaprolactone fibers outperformed other polymers and were selected for subsequent modifications including (i) incorporation of hybrid carbon nanoparticles, i.e., graphene, activated carbon, and carbon black into the polymer prior to fiber fabrication, and (ii) surface modification by dip coating with polyhydroxy modifiers including graphene oxide, tannin, dopamine, hesperidin, and heparin. These novel fibrous sorbents were comparable to commercial C18 sorbent and provided excellent analyte recoveries of 70-112% even from the protein-containing matrices.