Tellurium information, including Technical Data, Safety Data and its high purity properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure, ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included.
 Tellurium is a p-type semiconductor, and shows greater conductivity in certain directions, depending on alignment of the atoms. It is grown in crystalline form with other elements such as indium telluride. Its conductivity increases slightly with exposure to light. Tellurium improves the machinability of copper and stainless steel, and its addition to lead decreases the corrosive action of sulfuric acid on lead and improves its strength and hardness. Tellurium is used as a basic ingredient in blasting caps, and is added to cast iron for chill control. Tellurium is used in ceramics. Bismuth telluride has been used in thermoelectric devices. Iron is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder.
Tellurium facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are
available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left. Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.
Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Tellurium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.
Tellurium is a Block P, Group 16, Period 5 element. The number of electrons in each of Tellurium's shells is 2, 8, 18, 18, 6 and its electronic configuration is [Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p4. In its elemental form tellurium's CAS number is 13494-80-9. The tellurium atom has a radius of 143.2.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 206.pm.Tellurium is very toxic and can cause birth defects.
 All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, thin fillm deposition using sputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Tellurium compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.
Tellurium was first discovered by Franz Muller von Reichenstein in 1782.
The name Tellurium originates from the Greek word 'Tellus' meaning Earth.
 Tellure |
 Tellur |
 Tellurio |
 Telúrio |
 Teluro |
 Tellur |
Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of tellurium and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.
| Isotope |
Atomic Mass |
% Abundance on Earth |
| Te-120 |
119.90402 |
0.10 |
| Te-122 |
121.903047 |
2.60 |
| Te-123 |
122.904273 |
0.91 |
| Te-124 |
123.902819 |
4.82 |
| Te-125 |
124.904425 |
7.14 |
| Te-126 |
125.903306 |
18.95 |
| Te-128 |
127.904461 |
31.69 |
| Te-130 |
129.906223 |
33.80 |
The following table shows the abundance of Tellurium present in the human body and in the universe scaled to parts per billion (ppb) by weight and by atom:
| |
Typical Human Body |
Universe |
| by Weight |
no data |
9 ppb |
| by Atom |
no data |
0.09 ppb |
Safety Data and Biological Role. The safety data for tellurium metal, nanoparticles and its compounds can vary widely depending on the form. For potential hazard information, toxicity, and road, sea and air transportation limitations, such as DOT Hazard Class, DOT Number, EU Number, NFPA Health rating and RTECS Class, please see the specific material or compound referenced in the left margin. Tellurium compounds have no biological role.
Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for tellurium (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it's ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:
| 1st Ionization Energy |
869.3 kJ mol-1 |
| 2nd Ionization Energy |
1794.64 kJ mol-1 |
| 3rd Ionization Energy |
2697.75 kJ mol-1 |
Conductivity. As to tellurium's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured as to electrical resistivity @ 20 şC is 436000 μΩcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 2.1. The thermal conductivity of tellurium is 2.35 W m-1 K-1.
Thermal Properties. The melting point and boiling point for tellurium are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.
| Heat of Fusion |
13.5 kJ mol-1 |
| Heat of Vaporization |
104.6 kJ mol-1 |
| Heat of Atomization |
- kJ mol-1 |
Recent Research & Development for TelluriumMulti-metal(loid) methylation in methanoarchaea is linked to central intermediates of methanogenesis.
Thomas F, Diaz-Bone RA, Wuerfel O, Huber B, Weidenbach K, Schmitz RA, Hensel R.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2011 Oct 14. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22003009
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Synthesis, structure, and bonding of orthorhombic r(5)au(2)te(2) (R = lu, ho, dy, y). Electronic structure of the binary parent valence compound eu(5)as(4).
Chai P, Corbett JD.
Inorg Chem. 2011 Nov 7;50(21):10949-55. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
PMID:
21991925
[PubMed - in process]
Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Protects Escherichia coli from Tellurite-Mediated Oxidative Stress.
Sandoval JM, Arenas FA, Vásquez CC.
PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e25573. Epub 2011 Sep 30.
PMID:
21984934
[PubMed - in process]
Microbial processing of tellurium as a tool in biotechnology.
Turner RJ, Borghese R, Zannoni D.
Biotechnol Adv. 2011 Sep 1. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
21907273
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Measurement of the ßß Decay Half-Life of ^{130}Te with the NEMO-3 Detector.
Arnold R, Augier C, Baker J, Barabash AS, Basharina-Freshville A, Blondel S, Bongrand M, Broudin-Bay G, Brudanin V, Caffrey AJ, Chapon A, Chauveau E, Durand D, Egorov V, Flack R, Garrido X, Grozier J, Guillon B, Hubert P, Hugon C, Jackson CM, Jullian S, Kauer M, Klimenko A, Kochetov O, Konovalov SI, Kovalenko V, Lalanne D, Lamhamdi T, Lang K, Liptak Z, Lutter G, Mamedov F, Marquet Ch, Martin-Albo J, Mauger F, Mott J, Nachab A, Nemchenok I, Nguyen CH, Nova F, Novella P, Ohsumi H, Pahlka RB, Perrot F, Piquemal F, Reyss JL, Richards B, Ricol JS, Saakyan R, Sarazin X, Simard L, Simkovic F, Shitov Y, Smolnikov A, Söldner-Rembold S, Stekl I, Suhonen J, Sutton CS, Szklarz G, Thomas J, Timkin V, Torre S, Tretyak VI, Umatov V, Vála L, Vanyushin I, Vasiliev V, Vorobel V, Vylov Ts, Zukauskas A; NEMO-3 Collaboration.
Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Aug 5;107(6):062504. Epub 2011 Aug 4.
PMID:
21902318
[PubMed - in process]
Synthesis and characterization of wurtzite ZnTe nanorods with controllable aspect ratios.
Zhang J, Jin S, Fry HC, Peng S, Shevchenko E, Wiederrecht GP, Rajh T.
J Am Chem Soc. 2011 Oct 5;133(39):15324-7. Epub 2011 Sep 12.
PMID:
21899348
[PubMed - in process]
A homometallic tricapped cubane cluster: [(Cp*Mo)4B4H4(µ4-BH)3] (Cp* = ?5-C5Me5).
Thakur A, Sahoo S, Ghosh S.
Inorg Chem. 2011 Sep 5;50(17):7940-2. Epub 2011 Aug 11.
PMID:
21834507
[PubMed - in process]
Selective antimicrobial activity associated with sulfur nanoparticles.
Schneider T, Baldauf A, Ba LA, Jamier V, Khairan K, Sarakbi MB, Reum N, Schneider M, Röseler A, Becker K, Burkholz T, Winyard PG, Kelkel M, Diederich M, Jacob C.
J Biomed Nanotechnol. 2011 Jun;7(3):395-405.
PMID:
21830480
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Semiconductor detectors allow low-dose-low-dose 1-day SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging.
Nkoulou R, Pazhenkottil AP, Kuest SM, Ghadri JR, Wolfrum M, Husmann L, Fiechter M, Buechel RR, Herzog BA, Koepfli P, Burger C, Gaemperli O, Kaufmann PA.
J Nucl Med. 2011 Aug;52(8):1204-9.
PMID:
21810589
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
CsTe2O(6-x): novel mixed-valence tellurium oxides with framework-deficient pyrochlore-related structure.
Siritanon T, Li J, Stalick JK, Macaluso RT, Sleight AW, Subramanian MA.
Inorg Chem. 2011 Sep 5;50(17):8494-501. Epub 2011 Jul 27.
PMID:
21793494
[PubMed - in process]
Bioactivity of the conjugation of green-emitting CdTe quantum dots with a carborane complex.
Wu C, Shi L, Li Q, Zhao J, Selke M, Yan H, Wang X.
J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2011 Apr;11(4):3091-9.
PMID:
21776675
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Isolation and characterization of an environmental cadmium- and tellurite-resistant Pseudomonas strain.
Chien CC, Jiang MH, Tsai MR, Chien CC.
Environ Toxicol Chem. 2011 Oct;30(10):2202-7. doi: 10.1002/etc.620. Epub 2011 Aug 10.
PMID:
21766319
[PubMed - in process]
An ultrasensitive hydrogen peroxide biosensor based on electrocatalytic synergy of graphene-gold nanocomposite, CdTe-CdS core-shell quantum dots and gold nanoparticles.
Gu Z, Yang S, Li Z, Sun X, Wang G, Fang Y, Liu J.
Anal Chim Acta. 2011 Sep 2;701(1):75-80. Epub 2011 Jul 4.
PMID:
21763811
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Synchronous determination of mercury (II) and copper (II) based on quantum dots-multilayer film.
Ma Q, Ha E, Yang F, Su X.
Anal Chim Acta. 2011 Sep 2;701(1):60-5. Epub 2011 Jun 17.
PMID:
21763809
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Procedure-Controlled Selective Synthesis of 5-Acyl-2-iminothiazolines and their Selenium and Tellurium Derivatives by Convergent Tandem Annulation.
Wang Y, Zhang WX, Wang Z, Xi Z.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2011 Jul 14. doi: 10.1002/anie.201101948. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.
PMID:
21761522
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Synthesis, structures and ab initio studies of selenium and tellurium bis(carbodithioates and carbothioates).
Kato S, Tani K, Ishida M, Nonogaki J, Ebihara M, Hayashi S, Nakanishi W, Niyomura O, Ando F, Koketsu J.
Dalton Trans. 2011 Aug 28;40(32):8156-69. Epub 2011 Jul 13.
PMID:
21750832
[PubMed - in process]
Electrical bistability in self-assembled hybrid multilayers of phospholipid and nanoparticles.
Yuan B, Hu SX, Lu NY, Xu F, Zhou K, Ma YQ, Li M.
Nanotechnology. 2011 Aug 5;22(31):315303. Epub 2011 Jul 12.
PMID:
21747161
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Organomercury(II) and tellurium(II) compounds with the "pincer" ligand 2,6-[O(CH2CH2)2NCH2]2C6H3--stabilization of an unusual organotellurium(II) cationic species.
Beleaga A, Bojan VR, Pöllnitz A, Rat CI, Silvestru C.
Dalton Trans. 2011 Sep 21;40(35):8830-8. Epub 2011 Jul 11.
PMID:
21743935
[PubMed - in process]
Differentiation between the motor and sensory fascicles of the peripheral nerves from adult rats using annexin V-CdTe-conjugated polymer.
Meng X, Lu L, Wang H, Liu B.
Neurol India. 2011 May-Jun;59(3):333-8.
PMID:
21743158
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Tellurium tetrachloride and diphenyl ditelluride cause cytotoxicity in rat hippocampal astrocytes.
Roy S, Hardej D.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2011 Oct;49(10):2564-74. Epub 2011 Jul 1.
PMID:
21742007
[PubMed - in process] |
