Preparation of Ti3C2Tx MXene based solid-phase microextraction coating for sensitive determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in environmental water samples

In this study, a new Ti 3 C 2 T x -coated fiber was synthesized and utilized as coatings for solid-phase microextraction of seven polychlorinated biphenyls. The as-produced multilayered Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene was characterized by X-ray diffractometer, thermos-gravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. It is noteworthy that the Ti 3 C 2 T x showed some attractive features including unique 2D layered structures, large surface area, good hydrophilicity, and rich active recognition sites, endowing it has a high affinity towards the target polychlorinated biphenyls. Subsequently, the affecting parameters on the extraction efficiency of polychlorinated biphenyls were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, a novel method for the analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in water samples was proposed. The Ti 3 C 2 T x -coated fiber-based solid-phase microextraction method showed good linearity ( r 2 > 0.9928), high enrichment factors (268–442), low limits of detection (0.06–0.15 ng/L), and satisfactory repeatability (RSDs < 7.5%) for the polychlorinated biphenyls. The excellent method recoveries were in the range of 90.0–98.4, 92.0–98.2, and 92.0–98.0% for river water, lake water, and tap water samples, respectively. These results suggested that the proposed Ti 3 C 2 T x -coated fiber-based method represents a promising alternative for the analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls.