The effect of different binders on the comprehensive performance of solid phase microextraction fiber

Binders are significant components for the preparation of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fibers. However, little attention has been paid to the effect of different binders. Considering their diverse properties, in this work, we select three kinds of commonly used binders including polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and Nafion, as well as introduce a new binder of poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) to synthetically study the influence of binders. By using the commercial active carbons (ACs) with different binders, four SPME fibers with uniform morphologies and comparative thicknesses (i.e., ACs-PDMS-coated, ACs-PAN-coated, ACs-Nafion-coated and ACs-PVDF-coated fibers) have been prepared successfully. The effect of binders on the pore structure of ACs is firstly investigated. It is found that PDMS and PAN would cause pore blocking, and the specific surface area of ACs coatings decreases from 1362 m2 g−1 to 280 and 196 m2 g−1, respectively. While the specific surface area of ACs-PVDF composite remains 940 m2 g−1. Based on SPME, the influences of acid/alkali, high temperature and matrix towards different fibers are further systematically surveyed. Finally, the enrichment performance of prepared fibers towards various organic pollutants is preliminarily discussed. The comparison results show that PVDF demonstrates outstanding stability in all aspects. Therefore, PVDF might be an excellent candidate for the preparation of SPME fiber. Moreover, all obtained results are expected to provide the reference value for the further development of novel SPME fibers.