Aluminium bismuthate nanorods and the electrochemical performance for detection of tartaric acid

Aluminium bismuthate nanorods had been synthesized by a facile hydrothemral method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations showed that the lengh and diameter were 2–10 μm and 50–200 nm, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) showed that the nanorods were composed of single crystalline orthorhombic Al₄Bi₂O₉ phase. The aluminium bismuthate nanorods could be explained by the nucleation and crystalline growth process based on the products obtained from different hydrothermal conditions. Aluminium bismuthate nanorods modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was fabricated for the electrochemical detection of tartaric acid (TA) in neutral solution. A pair of semi-reversible redox peaks located at −0.08 V and −0.53 V, respectively were observed. The current intensity of the cyclic voltammogram (CV) peak increased linearly obviously with increasing the scan rate and TA concentration. The detection limit and linear range were 0.64 μM and 0.001–2 mM, respectively with the correlation coefficient of 0.995. The aluminium bismuthate nanorods modified GCE had good reproducibility and stability for the detection of TA. - Highlights: • Aluminium bismuthate nanorods were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal process. • The size of aluminium bismuthate nanorods could be controlled by growth conditions. • Aluminium bismuthate nanorods showed good electrochemical performance for the detection of tartaric acid. • Aluminium bismuthate nanorods modified GCE had good reproducibility and stability.