Novel alkylimidazolium/vanadium pentoxide intercalation compounds with excellent adsorption performance for methylene blue

Novel alkylimidazolium-intercalated V2O5 compounds were synthesized by a redox reaction between iodide ion and V2O5. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the diffuse reflectance UV–vis spectrometry experiments reveal that the vanadium in the intercalated V2O5 products was partially reduced by an iodide ion and the resultant iodine can be removed in the final products. The transmission electron microscope observation and X-ray diffraction analysis testify that the prepared alkylimidazolium/V2O5 intercalation compounds have typical lamellar structure with different d100 interlayer spacing values and the special straw-like nanofiber morphology with the length of 0.5–10 μm. Systematic investigation indicates that new intercalation compounds possess the extraordinary adsorption performance for methylene blue in an aqueous solution.