Silver telluride (Ag2Te) is a chemical compound, a telluride of silver, also known as disilver telluride or silver(I) telluride. It forms a monoclinic crystal. In a wider sense, silver telluride can be used to denote AgTe (silver(II) telluride, a metastable compound) or Ag5Te3.

Properties

Silver telluride is a semiconductor which can be doped both n-type and p-type. Stoichiometric Ag2Te has n-type conductivity. On heating silver is lost from the material.

Non-stoichiometric silver telluride has shown extraordinary magnetoresistance.

Occurrence

Silver(I) telluride occurs naturally as the mineral hessite, whereas silver(II) telluride is known as empressite. A silver gold telluride occurs as sylvanite.

Synthesis

Porous silver telluride (AgTe) is synthesized by an electrochemical deposition method. A potentiostat and a three-electrode cell with sulfuric acid electrolyte containing Ag nanoparticles at are used. A silver paste used in the tungsten ditelluride (WTe2) attachment leaches into the electrolyte, causing Ag to dissolve in the electrolyte. The electrolyte is stirred to remove hydrogen bubbles. A silver-silver chloride electrode and a platinum wire can be used as reference and counter electrodes. In order to grow the porous AgTe, the WTe2 is treated with cyclic voltammetry.

Glutathione-coated Ag2Te nanoparticles can be synthesized by preparing a solution containing AgNO3, Na2TeO3, and glutathione. N2H4 is added under stirring in an ice bath. The resulting product is washed for purification.

General references

  • Aliev, F. F. (2002). "Phase Transition of Ag_Enriched Ag2Te". Inorganic Materials. 38 (10): 995–997. doi:. S2CID.
  • Chuprakov, I. S.; Dahmen, K. H. (1998). "Large positive magnetoresistance in thin films of silver telluride". Applied Physics Letters. 72 (17): 2165. Bibcode:. doi:.
  • Dalven, Richard (1966). "Fundamental Optical Absorption in β-Silver Telluride". Physical Review Letters. 16 (8): 311. Bibcode:. doi:.
  • Hagyeong Kwon, Dongyeon Bae, Dongyeun Won, Heeju Kim, Gunn Kim, Jiung Cho, Hee Jung Park, Hionsuck Baik, Ah Reum Jeong, Chia-Hsien Lin, Ching-Yu Chiang, Ching-Shun Ku, Heejun Yang, and Suyeon Cho "Nanoporous Silver Telluride for active hydrogen evolution." (n.d.)