Electrosorption-enhanced solid-phase microextraction of trace anions using a platinum plate coated with single-walled carbon nanotubes

A platinum plate coated with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs@Pt) was prepared by means of electrophoretic deposition. Using the SWCNTs@Pt plate, an electrosorption-enhanced solid-phase microextraction (EE-SPME) technique was proposed for the extraction of trace anions in water, described as follows: a positive potential was applied to the SWCNTs@Pt plate to extract F−, Cl−, Br−, NO3− and SO42− from water using electrosorption, and then a negative potential was applied to the plate placed in ultra-pure water for the desorption of the absorbed anions, and finally the desorbed anions were analyzed using ion chromatography (IC). The EE-SPME parameters, including extraction potential and time as well as desorption potential and time, were investigated. An analytical method based on the above procedures, i.e., EE-SPME-IC, was established and used for the analysis of trace anions in water. The results showed that the application of potential on the SWCNTs@Pt plate significantly enhanced the ion extraction efficiency, and an enrichment factor of 15–38 was achieved. The SWCNTs@Pt plate could be used more than 50 times without significant decay. The linear range, the limit of detection (S/N = 3), the limit of quantification (S/N = 10) and repeatability (n = 7) of our EE-SPME-IC method were 1.0–150.0 μg/L, 0.06–0.26 μg/L, 0.19–0.85 μg/L and 2.1–8.0%, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for the analysis of trace anions in deionized water, and acceptable recoveries between 65.3 and 121.1% were obtained for the spiked deionized water samples.