Electrospun polystyrene nanofiber adsorbent for solid phase extraction of phenol as its quinoid derivative from aqueous solutions

In the present study, polystyrene nanofibers (PS NFs) were synthesized by electrospinning method and used as adsorbents in solid phase extraction of phenol from aqueous solutions. Phenol was reacted with 4-aminoantipyrine (4-AAP) reagent in presence of potassium hexacyanoferrate (III). The coloured product was extracted by solid phase extraction using electrospun synthesized polystyrene nanofibers and determined by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. At certain conditions of electrospinning process, the variables affecting the solid phase extraction efficiency were studied and optimized. Under the optimized conditions, (sorbent mass: 0.025 g PS NF, sample flow rate: 2.5 mL min−1, eluent: acetone: NaOH 0.1 M (1:1 v/v)), the linear dynamic range (LDR) and limit of detection (LOD as 3 Sb/m) for extraction of phenol from 50 mL of aqueous solutions were determined as 15-2500 µg L-1 and 10 µg L-1, respectively. The precision (as RSD %) of the extraction method using the proposed adsorbent was lower than 7.6%. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method for the extraction of phenol from industrial aqueous samples was examined and satisfactory results were obtained.