Synthesis and evaluation of molecularly imprinted core–shell carbon nanotubes for the determination of triclosan in environmental water samples

Synthetic core–shell molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared for the extraction of trace triclosan in environmental water samples. The synthesis process combined a surface molecular imprinting technique with a sol–gel process based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with silica. The morphology and structure of the products were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The adsorption properties of the polymers were demonstrated by equilibrium rebinding experiments and Scatchard analysis. The prepared imprinted materials exhibited fast kinetics, high capacity and favorable selectivity. The process of synthesis was quite simple and different batches of MIPs and non-imprinted polymers (NIPs) showed good reproducibility in the template binding. The feasibility of determination of triclosan from real samples was testified using spiked river and lake water samples. The recoveries of river water and lake water samples were ranged from 92.1 to 95.3% and 90.7 to 93.6%, respectively, when the environmental water samples were spiked with 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 μg L−1 of TCS. In addition, the reusability of MIPs and NIPs without any deterioration in capacity was demonstrated for at least 10 repeated cycles.