A new carbon nanomaterial solid-phase microextraction to pre-concentrate and extract pesticides in environmental water

Abstract This research describes a solid-phase microextraction device using carbon nanomaterials supported on steel threads. The device was used to pre-concentrate and extract 24 pesticides in water. The carbon nanomaterials were obtained by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, using methane and acetonitrile as carbon source. The different pesticides were separated, detected, and quantified using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The system, optimized and validated in the laboratory, presented good results. Linearity was between 0.0007 and 50.00 μg L−1, with determination coefficients greater than 0.9. The detection and quantification limits were in the range of 0.0002–1.1309 μg L−1 and 0.0007–3.7320 μg L−1, respectively. The studied pesticides presented recovery values in the range of 70 ± 8 to 123 ± 18%. Carbon nanomaterials exhibited high thermal and mechanical resistance, as the same fiber could be used for approximately 300 extractions. The device was applied to analyze environmental water samples collected from the Sao Francisco river basin in Brazil and in the Chinampas in Mexico City.