High-load MgNi nanoparticle-carbon nanofiber composites for hydrogen storage.

Herein, a simple synthesis method for MgNi composites with carbon nanofibers capable of hydrogen storage is presented. Specifically, -butyl--butyl-magnesium solution in hexane (CHMg, 0.7 M) and bis-cyclopentadienyl nickel(II) (nickelocene or NiCp) were used as precursors for the MgNi nanoparticles.

Fast Hydrogen Sorption Kinetics in Mg-VCl Produced by Cryogenic Ball-Milling.

Hydrogen storage in Mg/MgH materials is still an active research topic. In this work, a mixture of Mg-15wt.% VCl was produced by cryogenic ball milling and tested for hydrogen storage.

Metal Borohydrides beyond Groups I and II: A Review.

This review consists of a compilation of synthesis methods and several properties of borohydrides beyond Groups I and II, i.e., transition metals, main group, lanthanides, and actinides.

Resolving the Ultrafast Changes of Chemically Inequivalent Metal-Ligand Bonds in Photoexcited Molecular Complexes with Transient X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy.

Photoactive transition-metal complexes that incorporate heteroleptic ligands present a first coordination shell, which is asymmetric. Although it is generally expected that the metal-ligand bond lengths respond differently to photoexcitation, resolving these fine structural changes remains experimentally challenging, especially for flexible multidentate ligands. In this work, ultrafast X-ray absorption spectroscopy is employed to capture directly the asymmetric elongations of chemically inequivalent metal-ligand bonds in the photoexcited spin-switching Fe complex [Fe(tpen)] solvated in acetonitrile, where tpen denotes ,,','-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)-1,2-ethylenediamine.

Alanates, a Comprehensive Review.

Hydrogen storage is widely recognized as one of the biggest not solved problem within hydrogen technologies. The slow development of the materials and systems for hydrogen storage has resulted in a slow spread of hydrogen applications. There are many families of materials that can store hydrogen; among them, the alanate family can be of interest.

Visualizing the non-equilibrium dynamics of photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer with femtosecond X-ray pulses.

Ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer preceding energy equilibration still poses many experimental and conceptual challenges to the optimization of photoconversion since an atomic-scale description has so far been beyond reach. Here we combine femtosecond transient optical absorption spectroscopy with ultrafast X-ray emission spectroscopy and diffuse X-ray scattering at the SACLA facility to track the non-equilibrated electronic and structural dynamics within a bimetallic donor-acceptor complex that contains an optically dark centre. Exploiting the 100-fold increase in temporal resolution as compared with storage ring facilities, these measurements constitute the first X-ray-based visualization of a non-equilibrated intramolecular electron transfer process over large interatomic distances.

Towards longer-lived metal-to-ligand charge transfer states of iron(II) complexes: an N-heterocyclic carbene approach.

A 9 ps (3)MLCT lifetime was achieved by a Fe(II) complex based on C(NHC)^N(py)^C(NHC) pincer ligands. This is the longest known so far for any kind of complexes of this abundant metal, and increased by almost two orders of magnitude compared to the reference Fe(II) bis-terpyridine complex.

Toward Highlighting the Ultrafast Electron Transfer Dynamics at the Optically Dark Sites of Photocatalysts.

Building a detailed understanding of the structure-function relationship is a crucial step in the optimization of molecular photocatalysts employed in water splitting schemes. The optically dark nature of their active sites usually prevents a complete mapping of the photoinduced dynamics. In this work, transient X-ray absorption spectroscopy highlights the electronic and geometric changes that affect such a center in a bimetallic model complex.