The existence of interlayer NH
4+ "pillars" is vital to maintaining the overall structural stability of NVO during the electrochemical processes. However, the excess number of NH
4+ would further aggravate the electrostatic repulsion effect between Zn
2+ and NH
4+, and occupy the transfer routes of Zn
2+, resulting in the inferior transfer kinetics and rate performances [
86–
88]. Hence, rationally modulating the number of NH
4+ "pillars" to balance the structural stability of NVO and transfer kinetics of Zn
2+ can further improve cycling performances and power densities of NVO-based cathodes (
Table 5). Moreover, the introduction of NH
4+ defects can also partially increase the content of V
5+ in NVO, which is conducive to the redox reactions of vanadium and the increase of electrochemical capacity. In general, the removal of NH
4+ cations can be realized by the heat treatment or acid treatment. Heat treatment is the most direct way to remove NH
4+ cations from interlayers of NVO and the heating temperature plays the vital role in modulating the number of removed NH
4+ cations, since the deficiency of NH
4+ is proportionate to the calcination temperature and the NVO would completely convert to V
2O
5 at more than 400 ℃ [
89]. Zheng
et al. prepared NVO nanobelts with abundant oxygen vacancies firstly and removed partial NH
4+ via the mild calcination process at 300 ℃ (
Fig. 7a) [
90]. The ratio of NH
4+ defect is estimated about 12.6% based on the thermal gravimetric (TG) curve (
Fig. 7b) and the variation of N/V ratio of XPS spectrum. The removal of NH
4+ is proven to be beneficial for the mitigation of interlayer electrostatic interaction and reduction of migration barrier of Zn
2+. Consequently, the NH
4+-deficient NH
4V
4O
10 cathode possesses an initial capacity of 355 mAh/g at 0.3 A/g (
Fig. 7c), and maintains a favorable capacity of 202 mAh/g after 1000 cycles at 3 A/g (
Fig. 7d), which is far larger than that of pristine NVO and excessively calcined NVO (which is already transformed to vanadium-based oxide). Similarly, Liu
et al. further verified the removal necessity of NH
4+, and they suggested that the N atom of NH
4+ possesses strong electrostatic interaction with Zn, which would significantly retard the transfer of Zn
2+ during electrochemical processes [
86]. Aiming to further expand the interlayer distance of NVO and compensate the structural variation causing by the partial removal of NH
4+, the Al
3+ was pre-intercalated into the [VO]
n layers (AlNVO). As a result, the proposed NH
4+-deficient AlNVO cathode owns the enhanced Zn
2+ storage capability and cycling stability than pristine NVO, suggesting the compatibility of NH
4+-defect engineering with other molecular engineering strategies. Note that the optimal calcination temperature may vary from the detailed structure of NVO. The optimal annealing temperature of NH
4V
4O
10 is reported to be 300 ℃, while Tang
et al. indicated that the NH
4V
3O
8 cathode which is calcined at 350 ℃ possesses the optimal degree of NH
4+ defects (~68.5% based on the calculation of N/V ratio) and upmost electrochemical performance, compared to those NH
4V
3O
8 cathodes calcined at 325 and 375 ℃ [
11]. Another advantage of heating treatment method is that the extra oxygen defects can be also generated during the calcination process, which is also in favor of the promotion of Zn
2+ storage capabilities of NVO. The emergence of oxygen defects can further alleviate the interlayer electrostatic effect between V-O layer and Zn
2+ and enhance the conductivity of NVO, thus synergistically boosting the Zn
2+ transfer kinetics with ammonium-ion defects [
90]. However, the ammonium-ion defects and oxygen defects will simultaneously emerge in the heating treatment process, and it may be hard to evaluate the specific contribution of ammonium-ion defects and oxygen defects individually. Besides the heat treatment method, acid treatment is also capable to realize the removal of NH
4+. Chen
et al. hired the hydrochloric acid to remove partial NH
4+ from NH
4V
4O
10 via the facile stirring process (
Fig. 7e), and the removal degree of NH
4+ is highly relative to the content of HCl [
88]. With the increased content of HCl, the (001) peak gradually shifts to the lower position, indicating the enlarged interlayer distance (
Fig. 7f). Though the excess removal of NH
4+ can lead to the larger interlayer distance of NVO, its Zn
2+ transfer kinetics is inferior to the NVO cathode with moderate NH
4+ defects (
Figs. 7g and
h), which may be due to the structural deterioration (or transformation) of NVO causing by the excess removal of NH
4+. In conclusion, NH
4+ defects can effectively weaken the interlayer electrostatic repulsion effect and expand the interlayer distance, while the excess removal of NH
4+ may cause the structural deformation and impede Zn
2+ diffusion. Hence, the optimal degrees of NH
4+ defects for various NVO materials need to be further revealed, and an approach that can precisely regulate the number of NH
4+ defects is highly desired.