Development of ZrO2-Coated SPME Fibers for Detecting Benzotriazole Ultraviolet Filters in Water Samples

In this study, the zirconium dioxide nanoparticles (ZrO2NPs) were coated on the surface of stainless steel (SS) by cyclic voltammetry (CV) as solid phase microextraction fiber coating for detection of the benzotriazole ultraviolet filters (BUvFs) in different real water samples. The composition and images of the new SS@ZrO2NPs fiber were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The extraction capability of SS@ZrO2NPs fiber was investigated for the enrichment and detection of benzotriazole ultraviolet filters (BUvFs) phthalate acid esters (PAEs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) coupled with HPLC. The fabricated SS@ZrO2NPs fiber showed excellent extraction selectivity and good extraction capability for BUvFs. Under the optimized conditions, the SS@ZrO2NPs-SPME method presented linear ranging from 0.15 to 200 µg/L with correlation coefficients of higher than 0.9982. Moreover the limits of detection (LODs) varied from 0.020 µg/L to 0.138 µg/L. Relative standard deviations (RSDs) with single fiber were below 7.78% and 8.91% for intra-day and inter-day measurements, respectively. The developed method was used to the detection of trace BUvFs in different real water samples.