Zinc sulfide nanosheets as a novel solid-phase extraction material for flavonoids

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Flavonoids are important natural compounds with various health benefits.
• Efficient extraction methods are crucial for their analysis.
• Developing novel sorbent materials can improve extraction efficiency and sensitivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prepare and characterize zinc sulfide nanosheets as a novel solid-phase extraction material.
• To develop and validate an analytical method for flavonoid extraction using these nanosheets coupled with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).
• To evaluate the performance, stability, and reusability of the zinc sulfide nanosheets for flavonoid analysis.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of zinc sulfide nanosheets via a simple method.
• Characterization using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD).
• Solid-phase extraction (SPE) using a microcolumn packed with zinc sulfide nanosheets, coupled with HPLC for flavonoid analysis.

Main Results:

• Zinc sulfide nanosheets exhibited suitable morphology and confirmed composition.
• The developed SPE-HPLC method achieved wide linearities (1-250 μg/L) and low limits of detection (0.25-0.5 μg/L).
• High recoveries (88.7-98.2%) in real samples and excellent column reusability (>50 cycles) were demonstrated.

Conclusions:

• Zinc sulfide nanosheets are a promising and reusable material for solid-phase extraction of flavonoids.
• The developed analytical method is sensitive, reliable, and suitable for real-world sample analysis.
• This study highlights the potential of nanomaterials in enhancing analytical chemistry applications.