Three-dimensional printed knotted reactors enabling highly sensitive differentiation of silver nanoparticles and ions in aqueous environmental samples

3D-Printed Column with Porous Monolithic Packing for Online Solid-Phase Extraction of Multiple Trace Metals in Environmental Water Samples

“…Furthermore, the signal intensities of all of these metal ions declined to less than 5% of their respective elution peak heights within 82 s (Figure S7), revealing that these metal ions extracted in the porous absorbent were efficiently eluted with 0.5% HNO 3 without significant peak tailing and carry-over effect (Figure S8). With such superior extraction performance (sample volume, 1 mL; sample throughput, 12 h –1 ), the enhancement factors (EFs; i.e., the ratios of the elution peak heights after and before extraction) were in the range from 20.1 to 64.0 [due to the absorption and desorption (elution) kinetics between these metal ions and the porous Lay-Fomm 40], while the method detection limits (MDLs; i.e., three times the standard deviation of the baseline noise, from seven blank measurements) were in the range from 0.3 to 6.7 ng L –1 , suggesting that this system would be very applicable for determining the tested metal ions in natural water samples at concentrations in the sub-microgram-per-liter regime. ,, Compared with the known stereolithographically 3D-printed sample pretreatment devices (Table ) − and those reported polyurethane-based extraction devices − for extracting metal ions, this SPE columnfabricated using multimaterial FDM 3DP and the porous composite Lay-Fomm 40provided comparable or even higher analytical performance (higher sample throughput, higher extraction efficiencies, higher EFs, and lower MDLs).…”

“…Three-dimensional printing technologies, which have the capacity to simplify the manufacturing of user-oriented devices (including 3D structures that can be difficult to prepare using traditional fabrication methods), have been applied extensively to the fabrication of multifunctional devices for sample preparation and separation. − Taking advantage of user-friendly 3DP technologies to improve the efficacy of sample pretreatment schemes for modern atomic spectrometric analysis (especially to enrich trace metal ions and/or eliminate unwanted matrices), stereolithographically 3D-printed acrylate-based devicesby virtue of their structural rigidity and compactnesshave been the most commonly developed systems for the extraction of metal ions, based on acrylate–metal ion interactions. − Compared with the smooth surfaces of these stereolithographically manufactured devices, those fabricated through fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3DP are typically rougher and, therefore, suitable for extraction applications, ,,, in which the retention processes are governed by the interactions between the device surface and the target analytes.…”

“…Ca 18 O + for 58 Ni + ; by 40 Ar 23 Na + and 23 Na 40 Ca + for 63 Cu + ; and by 40 Ar 24 Mg + for 64 Zn + )] 4−6 mostly involve solid phase extraction (SPE) schemes, which extract the target elements and remove the sample matrices by using columns or cartridges packed with selective ion-exchange resins. 6−9 Incorporating these sample pretreatment schemes into an online, closed configuration can further improve the accuracy and reproducibility of analytical results because samples being analyzed are much less susceptible to contamination, and the errors occurring during manual operations would be reduced substantially.…”

Use of Arduino in the Development of a New and Fast Automated Online Preconcentration System Based on Double-Knotted Reactor for the Mn Determination in Tea Samples by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (F AAS)

“…KRs allow high flow rates with lowpressure drops (the reactor is an open tube); they prevent loss of sensitivity due to dispersion; they are free from contamination since they are made of inert material (PTFE); KR is easy to build and inexpensive with long lifetime without efficiency losing. 16,17 New ideas involving the use of KRs include, as example, three-dimensional printed knotted reactors for sensitive differentiation of silver nanoparticles and ions in aqueous environmental samples, 18 a tandem of KR coupled with a portable tungsten coil electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometer for online determination of trace cadmium, 19 KR modification with activated carbon for determination of arsenic species in medicinal herbs and tea infusions, 20 and an association of cloud-point extraction with KR for cobalt preconcentration following by ET AAS (electrothermal AAS) determination in drinking water. 21 Multicommutation is an automation strategy applied to continuous-flow analysis systems, with configurations modified by computer-controlled commutators.…”

3D Printing: The Second Dawn of Lab-On-Valve Fluidic Platforms for Automatic (Bio)Chemical Assays

“…The past three years have witnessed tremendous advances in employing 3D printing as springboard for rapid one-step prototyping of fluidic devices, − with no need for clean-room facilities and without the object shape and design restrictions from laser cutting, drilling, milling, lathe, or other CNC micromachining subtractive techniques, as demonstrated with diversified (bio)­analytical applications including point-of-need analysis ,, and separation and sorptive microextraction methods. , The same holds true for flow-injection/mesofluidic 3D-printed scaffolds that are amenable to boosting LOV applicability. Trends in this arena have been directed to the 3D fabrication of novel optical flow-cell designs, − holders and housing of on-capillary/flow-through optoelectronic detectors, custom-built multiport rotary valves, , or spare modular components of microflow injection manifolds for unitary operations, including nanoparticle incorporated sorptive platforms, and baffled and knotted reactors ,, that are infeasible with conventional CNC machining. Notwithstanding the reports by Kataoka et al, Mattio et al, and Su et al using manually packed bead materials , or the photopolymerized resin itself as a sorptive media, little effort has been directed to harnessing 3D printing toward automatic/online sample processing using custom-built flow platforms for handling complex sample matrices.…”