Novel V doped BiPO4/attapulgite nanocomposites (BiP1-xVxO4/ATP) were prepared via microwave-hydrothermal method. XRD, TEM, FT-IR, UV-Vis and XPS were employed to characterize the powder products. It was found that the ATP nanofibers favored the controllable assembly of Bi-based nanoparticles on its surface. Adequate V doping generated BiP1-xVxO4 solid solution in conjunction with co-precipitated BiVO4, which formed dumbbell-shaped heterostructure of BiP1-xVxO4/BiVO4 as also proved by DFT calculations. The molar fraction of V doping played a significant role in the photocatalytic desulfurization. Results showed that the desulfurization rate achieved 90% under solar light irradiation when x was optimized to be 0.6, due to the reason that in addition to the contribution of ATP fibers with adsorption capacity, the staggered heterostructure BiP1-xVxO4/BiVO4 not only promoted the solar light harvesting, but also accelerated the migration of charges, thus improved the desulfurization efficiency of the powders. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.