An acetate electrolyte for enhanced pseudocapacitve capacity in aqueous ammonium ion batteries

Ammonium ion batteries are promising for energy storage with the merits of low cost, inherent security, environmental friendliness, and excellent electrochemical properties. Unfortunately, the lack of anode materials restricts their development. Herein, we utilized density functional theory calculations to explore the V₂CT_x MXene as a promising anode with a low working potential. V₂CT_x MXene demonstrates pseudocapacitive behavior for ammonium ion storage, delivering a high specific capacity of 115.9 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ and excellent capacity retention of 100% after 5000 cycles at 5 A g⁻¹. In-situ electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance measurement verifies a two-step electrochemical process of this unique pseudocapacitive storage behavior in the ammonium acetate electrolyte. Theoretical simulation reveals reversible electron transfer reactions with [NH₄⁺(HAc)₃]···O coordination bonds, resulting in a superior ammonium ion storage capacity. The generality of this acetate ion enhancement effect is also confirmed in the MoS₂-based ammonium-ion battery system. These findings open a new door to realizing high capacity on ammonium ion storage through acetate ion enhancement, breaking the capacity limitations of both Faradaic and non-Faradaic energy storage.