Intercalation compound of VOPO4 center dot 2H(2)O with acrylamide: preparation and exfoliation

Reaction of acrylamide with vanadium phosphorus oxide VOPO4. 2H(2)O at room temperature yielded the intercalation compound without degradation of the VOPO4 layers. Two types of intercalation compounds were formed: the intercalation compound washed with n-heptane accommodated acrylamide with a bilayer arrangement, and the sample washed with acetone occluded the guest species with a monolayer. Both the VOPO4-acrylamide intercalation compounds were exfoliated in 1- or 2-butanol. The exfoliated oxide layers were reconstructed to layered VOPO4 materials by removal of the solvents, while acrylamide was partly deintercalated during the exfoliation-reconstruction process. The layered materials reconstructed from the exfoliated VOPO4 layers were characterized by their morphology: the reconstructed samples consisted of aggregated small flakes which were morphologically very different from relatively large square platelets observed for both the starting vanadium phosphorus oxide and the initial intercalation compound.