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Methacrylic functionalized hybrid carbon nanomaterial for the selective adsorption and detection of progesterone in wastewater

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Abstract

Progesterone, an endocrine-disrupting chemical, has been frequently detected in wastewater for decades, posing a serious threat to ecological and human health. However, it is still a challenge to achieve the effective detection of progesterone in complex matrices water samples. In this study, a novel adsorbent CNT@CS/P(MAA) was prepared by grafting methacrylic polymers on the surface of modified carbon nanomaterials. Compared with other reported materials, the hybrid carbon nanomaterial could selectively identify the progesterone in the complex industrial pharmaceutical wastewater, and its adsorption performance is almost independent of the pH and environmental temperature. In addition, this nanomaterial could be reused with a good recovery rate. The prepared nanomaterials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption and desorption experiments, and thermogravimetric analysis. The results confirmed that the methacrylic polymers and chitosan layer were successfully grafted on the surface of carbon nanotubes. Adsorption isotherms, adsorption kinetics, and selectivity tests showed that CNT@CS/P(MAA) had a high adsorption capacity (44.45 mg·g−1), a fast adsorption rate and a satisfied selectivity for progesterone. Then, CNT@CS/P(MAA) was used as solid phase extraction sorbent and combined with HPLC to enrich progesterone from the wastewater samples. Under the optimum conditions, a good linearity was obtained with the correlation coefficient was 0.9998, and the limit of detection was 0.003 ng·mL−1. Therefore, this method could be used for the selective and effective detection of progesterone in industrial wastewater with complex substrates and provided a new method for the detection of progesterone in other environmental waters.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China for providing financial support and the Instrumental Analysis Center of Xi'an Jiaotong University for providing excellent characterization platform.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81773689).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, School of Pharmacy, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710061, China

    Xia Cui, Hua Shu, Lu Wang, Guoning Chen, Jili Han, Qianqian Hu, Kamran Bashir, Zhimin Luo, Chun Chang & Qiang Fu

  2. Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, College of Pharmacy, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, 518118, China

    Qiang Fu

  3. Shaanxi Hanjiang Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd, Hanzhong, 723000, China

    Jia Zhang & Qiang Fu

Authors
  1. Xia Cui
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  2. Hua Shu
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  3. Lu Wang
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  10. Jia Zhang
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  11. Qiang Fu
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Contributions

Xia Cui (cuixia0415@stu.xjtu.edu.cn): Conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, visualization, writing—original draft

Hua Shu (shuhuas@stu.xjtu.edu.cn): Methodology, formal analysis, writing—review and editing

Lu Wang (wanglu0914@mail.xjtu.edu.cn): Writing—review and editing

Guoning Chen (chengn1992@stu.xjtu.edu.cn): Writing—review and editing

Jili Han (HJL1995061968@stu.xjtu.edu.cn): Writing—review and editing

Qianqian Hu (huqiangqian@stu.xjtu.edu.cn): Writing—review and editing

Kamran Bashir (kamran2016@stu.xjtu.edu.cn): Writing—review and editing

Zhimin Luo (luozm0905@xjtu.edu.cn): Visualization, writing—review and editing

Chun Chang (changchun@mail.xjtu.edu.cn): Supervision, funding acquisition

Jia Zhang (zadam@sxhjp.com): Funding acquisition

Qiang Fu (fuqiang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn): Conceptualization, visualization, supervision, funding acquisition

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qiang Fu.

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Responsible Editor: Ester Heath

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Highlights

• A methacrylic functionalized hybrid carbon nanomaterial was synthesized.

• The prepared nanocomposites could selectively recognize and enrich P4 in water.

• The adsorption capacity of this material for P4 is 44.45 mg·g−1.

• The adsorption performance of P4 is hardly affected by pH and adsorption temperature.

• The SPE-HPLC method could be used to detect P4 in real industrial wastewater.

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Cui, X., Shu, H., Wang, L. et al. Methacrylic functionalized hybrid carbon nanomaterial for the selective adsorption and detection of progesterone in wastewater. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 62306–62320 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15056-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15056-1

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