Ammonium — FTIR absorption peaks and assignments
These are the characteristic FTIR wavenumbers where Ammonium tends to absorb, compiled from published literature and ranked by supporting evidence. Each assignment is traceable to a source (DOI) and cross-validated against our 130,000+ reference spectra and knowledge graph.
Backed by 8 cited sources
Quick answer
Ammonium is usually assigned by looking for a recurring cluster of characteristic peaks rather than one exact textbook number. The table below shows where the literature most often places this group in FTIR, ranked by accumulated evidence.
Characteristic FTIR peaks for Ammonium
| Wavenumber (cm⁻¹) | Supporting facts | Cited sources | Top confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400 | 4 | 4 | 1.0 |
| 1435 | 4 | 3 | 1.0 |
| 402 | 3 | 3 | 1.0 |
| 965 | 3 | 3 | 1.0 |
| 930 | 3 | 3 | 1.0 |
| 1625 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 |
| 1660 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 |
| 1680 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 |
| 1400 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 |
| 3200 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 |
| 3271 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 |
| 1450 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 |
| 1510 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 |
| 3040 | 2 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 966 | 2 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 1313 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 1605 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 450 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 1248 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 1265 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 1401 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 1148 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 2342 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 2363 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 1470 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 700 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 1730 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 3400 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 2970 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 1579 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
Showing the 30 best-supported peaks of 132 total for Ammonium.
Spectrum logic
A functional-group assignment becomes more confident when several expected bands appear together. Use this page to find the strongest-supported peaks, then confirm that the same sample exhibits a coherent pattern rather than a single isolated hit.
Real-world usage
These pages are useful for unknown material analysis, peak explanation in reports, polymer troubleshooting, and verifying whether a candidate material family is chemically plausible.
Common mistakes
- Using one functional-group page as a complete material verdict without checking the rest of the spectrum.
- Assuming the strongest band is always the most diagnostic one.
- Forgetting that processing, additives, aging, and mixtures can shift or broaden expected peaks.
Verification advice
Use DSC, GC-MS, or TGA when several material families share similar bands or when mixture effects make the FTIR assignment uncertain.
Literature behind these assignments
-
3302 cm⁻¹ confidence 1.0
“Amongst the gelatin the amide A group was recorded at 3304, 3291, 3292, and 3302 cm-1 for PG-FG 100-0, PGfilms, FG showed the lowest peak amide B wave number, indicating the single bond NH3 FG 50-50, PG-FG 0-100, and BG, respectively, which”
Application of Poultry Gelatin to Enhance the Physicochemical, Mechanical, and Rheological Properties of Fish Gelatin as Alternative Mammalian Gelatin Films for Food Packaging DOI: 10.3390/foods12030670 -
1660 cm⁻¹ confidence 1.0
“cm-1is (cid:3) at 1435 assigned to the 4(F) bending mode of Brönsted acid (cid:3) bound ammonium ions [49,51,53], but the corresponding sites 2 cm-1 (E) vibration mode is absent at 1660 [59].”
Low-temperature selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 over V/ZrO2 prepared by flame-assisted spray pyrolysis: Structural and catalytic properties DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2012.08.012 -
1572 cm⁻¹ confidence 1.0
“The intense absorption 3 cm-1 cm-1 bands at 1572 and 823 are due to the asymmetric deformation and rocking NH+ cm-1 vibrations of 3.”
Crystal Growth, Spectral, Optical, Laser damage, Photoconductivity and Dielectric Properties of Semiorganic L-cystine hydrochloride Single Crystal DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2015.06.113 -
402 cm⁻¹ confidence 1.0
“The ESCA spectrum of treated PET revealed that the surface chemistry obtained after plasma polymerizing TFE was one clearly dominated by CF and CF moieties, 2 asdemonstratedbythelargepeaksappearingat291.1and289.5eV,respectively.Asexpected,s”
Cohn 和 Stern - 2000 - Sequential surface derivatization of PET films DOI: 10.1021/ma9900784 -
3000 cm⁻¹ confidence 1.0
“The When hBN is decomposed into boric acid and cm-1 3000 peak is assigned to hydrogen bonding of B 2O species 3 ammonia, the boric acid could dehydrate on the cm-1 with the OH groups [21].”
Garro Mena 和 Hohn - 2021 - Modification of hexagonal boron nitride by thermal DOI: 10.1007/s10853-020-05719-8 -
2847 cm⁻¹ confidence 1.0
“The analysis of structural changes conducted by XRD analysis showed the peak shifting from cm-1 19.89° to 16.1° and specific peak spectra FTIR of 2846.93 due to increase basal spacing from ammonium intercalation.”
Hakim 等 - 2023 - Ammonium-Assisted Intercalation of Java Bentonite DOI: 10.12911/22998993/156665 -
3416 cm⁻¹ confidence 1.0
“actiontocupricionsinsolutions, InFigure 4a,thesodium the adsorption band of the S-H and N-H groups in ammonium sulfide during the (NH4)2S cm-1, sulfide FTIR spectrum revealed one adsorption band at 3416 which corresponded reaction to cupric”
Ibrahim 等 - 2022 - Effect of Ammonium Sulfide on Sulfidization Flotat DOI: 10.3390/min12101193 -
3250 cm⁻¹ confidence 1.0
“The N-H stretch feature is located at cm(cid:4)1 cm(cid:4)1, (cid:2)2840 3250 on one hand and the N-H stretch peaks at 3250and is assigned to the symmetric stretching of NH 3 cm(cid:4)1 3200 on the other hand is expected to be much lower th”
Leewis 等 - 2006 - Ammonia adsorption and decomposition on silica sup DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2005.12.115
See Ammonium in your own spectrum
Upload your FTIR spectrum and get a full interpretation report — peak assignments with literature citations, library matches, and a literature-backed analysis — in seconds.