Formation of Ba bismuthate nanobelts and sensitive electrochemical determination of tartaric acid

A facile hydrothermal route without additives was used to prepare novel Ba bismuthate nanobelts. The Ba bismuthate nanobelts were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM and electrochemical method. The obtained nanobelts are composed of single crystalline monoclinic BaBiO2.5 phase with the thickness, width and length of about 50 nm, 1 µm and several dozens of micrometers, respectively. The formation of the Ba bismuthate nanobelts is dependent on the temperature and reaction time. Electrochemical measurements display that the Ba bismuthate nanobelts modified glassy carbon electrode has good electrochemical activity toward tartaric acid. A pair of semi-reversible cyclic voltammetry (CV) peaks are observed at −0.49 V and +0.01 V, respectively. The peak current is linearly relative to the scan rate and tartaric acid concentration. The limit of detection (LOD) is 0.12 µM with the linear range of 0.001–2 mM. The work provides new electrode modified materials for the sensor to detect tartaric acid.