Tellurium-based nanocomposites for plastic electronic applications

Owing to the very brittle nature of the tellurium powder, nanoscopic grains with average size of 4.8nm were produced by dry vibration milling technique using a Mixer mill apparatus. A novel material was obtained by binding the nanosized tellurium grains with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The morphology, elemental composition, and structural properties of Te/PMMA films were investigated. The prepared material was composed of hexagonal tellurium and ??phase of tellurium oxide. The electrical properties of the films were studied in dark condition and under white light illumination varying the optical power density from 10 to 170 mW/cm2 and turning on and off the light cyclically