Cadmium Telluride

Cadmium Telluride powder is an inorganic compound powder composed of cadmium (Cd) and tellurium (Te), usually black or dark grey in colour, which is widely used in semiconductor materials, photovoltaic cells and other fields.

Characteristics

Chemical formula: CdTe

Molecular weight: 240.01 g/mol

Chemical stability: easily oxidised by air when wet; insoluble in water and acids, but can decompose by interaction with nitric acid.

Appearance: grey to dark grey or black powder.

Density: about 5.85-6.2 g/cm³, different preparation methods and purity may slightly affect the density.

Melting point: 1041°C

Boiling point: 1050°C

Refractive index: 2.67 (@10µm)

Crystal structure: sphalerite type

Forbidden band width: 1.46-1.5 eV (25°C)

Electron mobility: 1050 cm²/(V・s) for electron mobility and 80 cm²/(V・s) for hole mobility at room temperature.

Optical properties: high optical absorption coefficients of >5×10⁵/cm, with optical absorption exceeding 90% under standard AM1.5 conditions for a CdTe film of only 2 μm thickness.

Applications

Solar cells:

Thin-film solar cells: this is one of the most important areas of application for Cadmium Telluride powder. Cadmium Telluride thin-film solar cells have high photoelectric conversion efficiencies and are relatively low-cost and stable. Its high light absorption coefficient makes it possible to absorb a large amount of sunlight with only a very thin film, thus generating electricity, which is suitable for the construction of large-scale photovoltaic power stations and distributed photovoltaic power generation projects.

Semiconductor industry:

Photodetectors: Using the semiconductor properties of Cadmium Telluride, photodetectors such as infrared detectors and X-ray detectors can be produced. High sensitivity and responsiveness to specific wavelengths of light or rays, able to convert light signals or ray signals into electrical signals, widely used in security monitoring, medical imaging, astronomical observation and other fields.

Semiconductor devices: Used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, such as field effect transistors (FETs), heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) and so on. CdTe’s energy band structure and electrical properties give it a unique advantage in semiconductor devices, and it can meet some specific electronic performance requirements.

Optoelectronics field:

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs): by adjusting the material structure and composition of Cadmium Telluride, it can be made to emit different colours of light, and can therefore be used to make light-emitting diodes. Compared with traditional light-emitting materials, CdTe-based LEDs have higher luminous efficacy and better colour purity, and are potentially valuable for applications in display technology and lighting.

Solid-state radiation detector: It can be used to manufacture solid-state radiation detectors to detect and measure various kinds of radiation, such as playing an important role in nuclear radiation monitoring and radioactive material detection.

Nanotechnology field: Cadmium Telluride nanoparticles are important in nanotechnology research. They can be used to prepare nanostructured materials such as nanowires, nanotubes and quantum dots. These nanomaterials have unique physical and chemical properties and have a wide range of applications in the fields of biomarkers, imaging, sensing, etc., for example, in the biomedical field for cellular imaging and disease diagnosis.

Medical imaging: Due to its high atomic number and good X-ray absorption ability, Cadmium Telluride can be used in X-ray and gamma-ray detectors to achieve high-resolution imaging in medical imaging equipment, which is of great significance for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Environmental monitoring field: Cadmium Telluride-based sensors can be used in environmental monitoring to detect and quantify pollutants and heavy metals, such as detecting harmful gases in the air and heavy metal ions in water, with high sensitivity and selectivity.