Self-supporting crumpled graphene balls as stable and reusable adsorbents for solid-phase extraction

Abstract The substantial aggregation of pristine graphene nanosheets or the possible escape of graphene from the supporting materials decreases its powerful adsorption capacity and diminishes its practical applications in graphene-based solid-phase extraction (SPE). It is highly desirable for these graphene-based adsorbents to be dispersive, stable and reusable. In this study, we report the use of self-supporting crumpled graphene balls as stable and reusable adsorbents for SPE. Comparative studies shows crumpled graphene balls are superior to other common SPE adsorbents in terms of recovery (approaching 100% for all four chlorophenols) and adsorption capacity (826.4 and 1457.4 μg/g for pentachlorophenol and 2-chlorophenol). Notably, the stability and reusability of crumpled graphene balls was remarkable due to their unique chemical structure with wrinkle and ridges. The application of the obtained crumpled graphene balls was further successfully extended to the enrichment and desalination of proteins.