Detection of inorganic
phosphate is very important in environmental
and health care applications. In this work, we found that phenomenon
similar to “catalytic hydrogen wave” occurred on a molybdenum
phosphide (MoP) modified electrode in the presence of phosphate, that
is, a new wave of catalytic hydrogen evolution appeared before the
normal hydrogen evolution reaction. The catalytic hydrogen wave arose
from a structure similar to phosphomolybdic acid (noted as MoPO),
which was formed by the interaction between phosphate and molybdenum
oxides on the surface of the MoP modified electrode, resulting in
the altered surface structure and adjusted interface catalytic activity.
A novel phosphate electrochemical sensor was constructed based on
this phenomenon with a linear range from 0.10 to 20.0 mmol·L–1, an actually determined minimum concentration of
0.030 mmol·L–1, and recoveries of 94%–107%,
and this sensor was successfully applied to the detection of phosphate
in human blood. Furthermore, this work proposes a new sensing method
based on catalytic hydrogen waves on the modified electrodes.