Electro-assisted solid-phase microextraction of Hg(II) in rice and water samples using NiCo-LDH-MXene fiber

Food and water contamination with heavy metals is still a significant public health issue, necessitating development of simple and rapid analytical methods. Herein, a novel electro-assisted solid-phase microextraction (EA-SPME) method was developed to determine mercury (Hg(II)) in rice and water samples. A novel SPME-fiber coating was prepared through electrosynthesis of NiCo-layered double hydroxide (NiCo-LDH) onto MXene deposited onto the graphenized pencil fiber. This EA-SPME-DPV method demonstrated good linearity (0.01 to 1.5 ng mL^-1) and limits of detection and quantification (0.003 and 0.01 ng mL^-1, respectively). Analytical performance of the EA-SPME-DPV method indicated that this method is cost-effective, rapid, and green, but also sensitive, selective, accurate, and repeatable, without significant matrix effects, making it suitable to determine Hg(II) in water and rice samples.