Recent Applications of Carbon Nanotubes in Solid Phase Extraction and Preconcentration: A Review

The application of carbon nanotubes (CNT’s) for solid phase extraction (SPE) is still capturing the creative minds of the analytical chemists. This resulted in development of many modified procedures for difficult samples with improved analytical figures of merit. This review covers the most recent uses of CNT’s for SPE (up to December 31, 2009) that has not been covered in previous reviews. It was found that the use of CNT's for metal and organo-metallic speciation is lagging behind other areas of research. Only very limited studies were concerned with exploring the effect of physical characteristics of the CNT on SPE process. Different forms or devices developed for utilization of CNT’s in SPE were also covered in this review. It was found that surface modification and functionlization of CNT’s proved itself as a powerful tool for improving the selectivity and efficiency of the SPE.