Researchers Find Evidence of Tellurium Production When Neutron Stars Merge
Tellurium is a rare and mildly toxic element that has applications in solar cells, tinting glass, vulcanizing rubber, semiconductor applications and rewritable CDs, among others. Battery manufacturers are also developing new lithium-tellurium battery designs that replace the liquid electrolytes in EV batteries with solid electrolytes to reduce fire risks. With the metal’s market predicted to grow over the next decade amid a global transition to electric cars and renewable energy, researchers are becoming increasingly interested in the silvery-white metalloid. According to research from Lithuanian and Japanese scientists, tellurium may be one of the heavy elements that form when neutron stars…
