Although the detection of phosphate can be achieved by nickel hydroxide instead of noble metals, the sensitive detection of phosphate using nickel hydroxide transformed into hydroxy nickel oxide needs to be done under alkaline conditions, which is not environmentally friendly. To solve this problem, we prepared flake-shaped nickel hydroxide-sensitive electrodes supported on carbon cloth using a low-consumption one-step method from the new strategy that the specific adsorption of nickel hydroxide to phosphate can change the electrode's surface charge distribution and investigated their performance in detecting phosphate under neutral conditions. The specific adsorption of phosphate changed the charge distribution on the surface of the electrode, improved the electron transfer efficiency, and facilitated the valorization of nickel, while the flake-shaped nickel hydroxide provided more active sites for the electrode, which resulted in a good performance of the nickel hydroxide electrode: a sensitivity of 1530 mA mM