Cadmium Telluride-A Toxic Substance That Has A Wide Usage

Though Cadmium telluride is toxic it finds use in many industries. Cadmium telluride made from Cadmium and tellurium a rare earth metal has a wide range of uses in the manufacturing industries. When lead, copper and zinc are mined; this compound is got as a by-product. Also soil and water contain it in small amounts naturally. This toxic chemical finds applications because of its unique physical and chemical properties.

One major plus point is it highly resistant to corrosion and other chemicals. It can tolerate extreme temperatures as well. Being a very good conductor of electricity it is much sought after in the industries for this property. Another advantage is its low melting point. These things do act in its favor and makes it the preferred chemical over similar ones.

Photovoltaic cells and modules are made and used today as an alternative source of energy. Solar too contain it as it a cost effective material and so it is the preferred choice. This can be alloyed with other metals like mercury and zinc and they make useful infrared and gamma ray, x-ray, etc. detectors respectively. Chlorine doped to this substance finds use in detecting the different kinds of radiations at room temperatures which works in its favor too and therefore used in the nuclear spectroscopic applications more conveniently.

The use of it thus successfully has enabled to make issue of compact detecting devices. When the atomic number is large and the band width is large this makes it possible to get a high resolution spectra resolution and charge collection. Thus the study of these materials has been possible to a high degree.

Though being the highly unsurpassed choice of industries for various purposes it has a bad side too. It is highly toxic so careless handling can lead to some health problems for the users. Moreover, a rare earth metal whose abundance is low goes into making it so the future of its use looks bleak.

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