Publications by authors named "Valtyr Freyr Hlynsson"

Article Synopsis
  • Scientists are studying iron compounds with special molecules called N-heterocyclic carbenes because they have interesting properties that could be useful for solar energy and other technologies.
  • They are looking at how iron in different chemical states interacts with other parts of the compound using special X-ray techniques.
  • The study combines experiments and computer calculations to better understand how the iron and other molecules work together, helping to improve these compounds’ abilities.
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Iron centered N-heterocyclic carbene (Fe-NHC) complexes have shown long-lived excited states with charge transfer character useful for light harvesting applications. Understanding the nature of the metal-ligand bond is of fundamental importance to rationally tailor the properties of transition metal complexes. The high-energy-resolution fluorescence detected X-ray absorption near edge structure (HERFD-XANES) has been used to probe the valence orbitals of three carbene complexes, [Fe(bpy)(btz)](PF) (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine, btz = 3,3'-dimethyl-1,1'-bis(p-tolyl)-4,4'-bis(1,2,3-triazol-5-ylidene)), [Fe(btz)](PF), and [Fe(phtmeimb)]PF (phtmeimb = [phenyl(tris(3-methylimidazol-2-ylidene))borate]).

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Commercial design of a sustainable route for on-site production of ammonia represents a potential economic and environmental breakthrough. In an analogous process to the naturally occurring enzymatic mechanism, synthesis of ammonia could be achieved in an electrochemical cell, in which electricity would be used to reduce atmospheric nitrogen and water into ammonia at ambient conditions. To date, such a process has not been realized due to slow kinetics and low faradaic efficiencies.

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