Electrochemical properties of tadpole-like MgO nanobelts

Tadpole-like MgO nanobelts have been grown on Mo substrates via DC arc plasma jet chemical vapor deposition. The 10−30 nm wide nanobelts have spherical caps of 30−50 nm diameter. The nanobelts contain numerous contacts and oxide ions in low coordination (with O5C2− and O4C2−, for terrace and edge sites, and O3C2− for corner and kink sites). Hydroquinone (HQ) and catechol (CC) can be oxidized on MgO nanobelt-modified electrodes. The electrochemical properties of the modified electrode were investigated using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry techniques. This modified electrode exhibited high sensitivity in the determination of HQ and CC, with the limits of detection for HQ and CC being 1×10-11 M and 1×10−9 M, respectively. The strong electrocatalytic properties were correlated with large surface area and presence of numerous defects.