Electrochemical deposition of polyaniline on the stainless steel mesh for the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

In this study, the polyaniline (PANI) coating was synthesized via electrochemical deposition on the stainless steel mesh and loaded in the form of the disk in a column as solid-phase extraction cartridge. The prepared cartridge was applied for the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from real water samples and determination with gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC − FID). The PANI-coated stainless steel mesh possessed a rough surface and porous structure and showed excellent stability. The SPE-GC-FID method based on PANI coated stainless steel mesh showed wide linear range (0.01–100 ng mL−1), low limits of detection (0.003–0.01 ng mL−1), and good repeatability (4.5–6.1%). The method was applied for the extraction of PAHs in the real water samples (i.e. tap water, well water, river water, and wastewater) with satisfactory relative recovery in the range of 95.8–99.7%.