EPJ B Highlight - Exploring the high-temperature performance of cadmium chalcogenides

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Published on 13 March 2025

Through a combination of experimental and theoretical analysis, researchers have gained new insights into the thermal stability and degradation of cadmium chalcogenides at high temperatures.

Cadmium chalcogenides are an important family of materials in which cadmium (Cd) forms a chemical compound with either tellurium (Te), selenium (Se), or sulphur (S). These materials are known for their useful electronic properties, as well as their strong thermal stability and high natural abundance. Yet despite these useful properties, researchers still have much to learn about how cadmium chalcogenides perform at the high temperatures required for many practical applications

Through new analysis published in EPJ B, researchers led by Zalak Kachhia at Sarder Patel University, India, present a detailed exploration of the thermal properties of cadmium chalcogenides, revealing new insights into how these materials degrade above certain temperature limits.

Their results could help to expand the use of these compounds in technologies including optoelectronic and acoustic devices, as well as light and X-ray detectors. These in turn could be used in practical applications as diverse as medical and astronomical imaging, and energy conversion devices.

To examine the thermal properties of each compound, the researchers used a technique named ‘thermogravimetric analysis’: which measures the mass of chemical samples over time as their temperature changes.

Their results showed that while CdTe remains stable up to temperatures of 692°C, CdSe and CdS are both stable up 852°C. Above these limits, each sample thermally degrades in a single step. Through further mathematical analysis of this breakdown, the team found that CdTe undergoes more pronounced weight loss as it degrades, and that the process is triggered earlier than for CdSe and CdS.

Kachhia and colleagues reinforced their experimental results through theoretical models of the dynamics of phonons: collective excitations of atoms within a crystal lattice, which play a key role in the lattice’s transport of heat. Altogether, this analysis yielded unprecedented insights into the thermal behaviour of cadmium chalcogenides, which could help to extend their use in practical applications.