Tellurium

Tellurium (Te) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-11 · the last 10 years

Tellurium’s research intensity stands at about 60% of its own all-time peak, a level reached after an uneven climb from 2016 to 2026, with the historical peak occurring in 1973, well before this window.

Research intensity ran from about 51% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 60% in 2026 — a net rise with setbacks along the way, and the all-time peak (1973) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements rose. Among the 118 elements, tellurium has a mid-sized research literature.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 5,799 in 2016 to about 10,373 in 2025 (1.79x). That is slower than the literature as a whole grew over the same years, so the element lost ground in the wider body of research even as its own count rose.

The core of tellurium’s recent research is anchored in two major subcommunities within broader materials science fields. The first is Telluride Thin Films and Topological Insulators, where tellurium is one strand of a broader community — about 18% of its papers involve tellurium. This group focuses on bismuth antimony telluride thin films, lead telluride, and topological insulator properties rather than bulk thermoelectric generators, with distinctive work on antimony telluride and lead telluride systems. Its share of tellurium’s recent research has remained steady at about 18%. A key anchor is a 2025 Science paper on quadruple-band synglisis in tin sulfide crystals, cited over 260 times, which highlights high thermoelectric efficiency. Another significant contribution is a 2022 Science paper on high-entropy GeTe-based thermoelectrics, cited over 730 times.

The second major subcommunity is Telluride Absorbers in Thin-Film Photovoltaics, where tellurium is also one strand of a broader community — about 14% of its papers involve tellurium. These papers focus on CdTe, CdZnTe, and ZnTe absorber layers and their window interfaces within thin-film solar cells, often discussing cdte thin films and zinc telluride. This community’s share of tellurium research has also remained steady at about 17%. A notable 2023 review in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells on CdTe-based thin film photovoltaics, cited over 400 times, underscores the ongoing focus on this technology.

A third, distinct community is Tellurium Extraction, Synthesis, and Optoelectronic Device Engineering. Here, tellurium is central to the community — about 64% of its papers involve tellurium. This group works on copper telluride, tellurium nanosheets, and tellurium dioxide, with a focus on electronics and optoelectronics based on tellurium. Its share of tellurium’s recent research is about 10%, steady over the window. A 2020 Nature Communications paper on stable mid-infrared polarization imaging based on quasi-2D tellurium, cited over 480 times, exemplifies this device-oriented work.

Overall, the composition of tellurium research has remained remarkably stable. The three named communities have all held steady shares, while the remainder of the literature, comprising other smaller groups, has grown its share from about 46% to 55% of the element’s recent research. This suggests a broadening of tellurium’s applications beyond its core thermoelectric and photovoltaic niches.

For a deeper dive into tellurium’s current standing and recent developments, see the element’s Last 12 Months and Executive Brief reports.