Soft process for the intercalation of ammonium cations into vanadium oxide

A soft process for the intercalation of different ammonium cations into vanadium pentoxide was developed. By refluxing an aqueous solution containing ammonium $$\overline {\rm{N}} {\rm{H}}_4^ + $$ , tetramethylammonium (CH_3)_4N^+, and tetraethylammonium (C_2H_5)_4N^+ with V_2O_5 powders, intercalation compounds containing corresponding ammonium cations were obtained. The compound with aniline C_6H_5NH_2 was also synthesized by the same process. The compounds with (CH_3)_4N^+, (C_2H_5)_4N^+, and also C_6H_5NH_2 had diffraction patterns consisting of very sharp 00l lines. The spacing for sandwiching the intercalates (the identity period), (CH_3)_4N^+, (C_2H_5)_4N^+, and C_6H_5NH_2, was 1.29, 1.31, and 1.39 nm, respectively.