Congratulations to Madeleine Uible, Dr. Jerod Keiser, and Prof. Suzanne Bart from Purdue University on their most recent publication, titled, “Separation of Tellurium from Metal Chalcogenides Through Mild Anhydrous Chlorination”. The separation of tellurium from cadmium telluride is examined using a unique combination of mild, anhydrous chlorination and complexation of the subsequent tellurium tetrachloride with 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol. The resulting tellurium complex, Te(dtbc)2, is isolated in moderate yield and features a 10^3 to 10^4reduction in cadmium content, as provided by XRF and ICP-MS analysis. Similar results were obtained from zinc telluride. A significant separation between Te, Se, and S was observed after treating a complex mixture of metal chalcogenides with this protocol. These three tunable steps can be applied for future applications of CdTe photovoltaic waste. Link to manuscript
