Organochlorine
pesticides have made a large contribution to the
development of modern agriculture but also caused contamination in
the environment, and they persistently cause harm to humans and organisms
due to their stability in nature. Precise tracking and enrichment
of these pollutions are therefore clearly required. In this work,
we explored an amino-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT-NH2) to selectively trap and rapidly enrich trace organochlorine
contaminants from aqueous solutions. Through a case study of trace
hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) enrichment, it is demonstrated that an
MWCNT-NH2 exhibits ultrafast capture kinetics (96.5% removed
in 30 s), where a high uptake rate (98.5%), an outstanding uptake
capacity (197.9 mg g–1), and an excellent selectivity
in complex samples are obtained, and a high uptake efficiency is maintained
over a wide range of harsh conditions (pH 2–10). This capturer
can be further conveniently separated by a simple filtration. Importantly,
an MWCNT-NH2 can be applied to efficiently enrich HCH in
samples with much low temperatures (≤4 °C). This study
introduces a new avenue for enrichment and separation of trace organic
contaminants and also holds promise for developing highly efficient
sensors, detectors, and scavengers of harmful compounds.