NH4)(2)V3O8/carbon composites were successfully achieved using NH4VO3 and glucose as the starting materials via a one-step hydrothermal route for the first time. The composites consisted a layer structured (NH4)(2)V3O8 and amorphous carbon with aromatic structures containing lots of active function groups. Then porous V2O5 nanoparticles were fabricated by the thermal treatment of (NH4)(2)V3O8/carbon composites in air atmospheres. The BET specific surface area of (NH4)(2)V3O8/carbon composites measured 1.68 m(2)g-1, whereas BET surface area of porous V2O5 nanoparticles reached 10.6 m(2) g-1 and the average pore size totaled 28.9 nm. The synthetic process of (NH4)(2)V3O8/carbon composites and porous V2O5 nanoparticles was briefly discussed. Electrochemical properties of porous V2O5 nanoparticles as supercapacitor electrodes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) both in the aqueous and organic electrolytes. The influence of calcined temperature and time and the mole ratio of NH4VO3/glucose on specific capacitance, phase and morphology of samples were discussed in detail. Porous V2O5 nanoparticles respectively exhibited the specific capacitance of 433 and 545 F g(-1) in the aqueous and organic electrolytes at the current density of 1 A g(-1). After 100 cycles, the capacitance retention was 89.6% in organic electrolyte, whereas it was only 22.9% in aqueous electrolyte. It turned out that electrochemical properties of porous V2O5 nanoparticles were greatly improved by using organic electrolyte. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.