Detection of Phosphate in Human Blood Based on a Catalytic Hydrogen Wave at a Molybdenum Phosphide Modified Electrode

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.