From Microurchins to VO Nanowalls: Improved Synthesis through Vanadium Powder and Fast, Selective Adsorption of Methylene Blue.

Research on synthesizing micro- and nanosized materials directly from metals has attracted considerable attention because of its simplicity, ability to synthesize in large quantities, and high uniformity. This study proposes a simple method to synthesize high-uniformity or high-density VO microurchins and nanowalls directly from vanadium powder. Remarkably, the synthesis condition of 60 °C for 1 h is considered to be an optimal condition to convert metals into micro- or nano-oxides. The as-synthesized VO nanowalls can adsorb nearly 90% of methylene blue in the dark in 3 min. The adsorption selectivity of these samples with several pigments is investigated.