Potassium telluride

Template:Chembox Potassium telluride is an inorganic compound with a chemical formula K₂Te. It is formed from potassium and tellurium, making it a telluride. Potassium telluride is a white powder. Like rubidium telluride and caesium telluride, it can be used as an ultraviolet detector in space. Its crystal structure is similar to other tellurides, which have an anti-fluorite structure.

Production

Tellurium will react with melting potassium cyanide (KCN) producing potassium telluride. It can also be produced by direct combination of potassium and tellurium, usually in liquid ammonia solvent:

$\mathrm{2}\mathrm{K}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{⟶}{\mathrm{K}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{e}$

Reactions

Adding potassium telluride to water and letting the filtrate stand in air leads to an oxidation reaction that generates potassium hydroxide (KOH) and elemental tellurium:

$\mathrm{2}{\mathrm{K}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{2}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{O}\mathrm{+}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{⟶}\mathrm{4}\mathrm{K}\mathrm{O}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{2}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{e}$

References

1. Sangester J. and Pelton AD; Journal of Phase Equilibria, 1997, 18(4) p. 394.