In situ electro-polymerized polyaniline thin film on highly porous carbon fiber felt for extraction and chromatographic detection of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

This study represents the development of an innovative solid-phase microextraction (SPME) adsorbent based on the in situ electro-polymerized polyaniline on the carbon fiber felt (PANI@CFF). The combination of PANI and CFF resulted in a synergistic enhancement of adsorption capacity, creating a novel thin film SPME adsorbent. The adsorbent was characterized using FTIR, FE-SEM, XRD, and EDX techniques. The resulting 3D adsorbent represented high porosity, chemical stability in organic solvents, easy modification, and simple operation, making it an efficient platform for preconcentration applications. The PANI@CFF was utilized to efficiently extract non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), demonstrating exceptional performance due to its unique structural properties and multifunctional groups. All of the key extraction parameters were optimized using a one-variable-at-a-time approach. The developed SPME combined with HPLC-UV offered a wide linear range (0.05-1000 µg L⁻¹, R² ≥ 0.995), high sensitivity with LOD values less than 0.03 µg L⁻¹, and excellent precision (RSDs ≤ 5.7%). The excellent preconcentration factor (PF = 458‒821) and robustness of the designed adsorbent make the method suitable for trace analysis of NSAIDs in biological and environmental matrices. The proposed protocol was validated by analysis of some real samples, achieving recoveries of 80.0-113.4%.