Element charge lookup

What Is the Charge of Tellurium?

Tellurium commonly forms Te2- Te4+ Te6+ in introductory ionic compounds.

Tellurium follows the oxygen family script — telluride Te2- with metals (CdTe solar panels), +4 in TeO2, +6 in tellurates — but with heavy covalent character throughout. For formula problems, use -2 opposite metals and +4/+6 with oxygen.

Element	Tellurium
Symbol	Te
Atomic number	52
Common ionic charge	-2, +4, +6
Common ions	Te2-, Te4+, Te6+

Visual reference

Tellurium element image and atomic model

Images are used as visual references; charge rules still depend on the compound.

Tellurium element sample — **Tellurium sample image**Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, source: https://images-of-elements.com/tellurium.phpOriginal image source

**Tellurium Bohr model**Atomic model image from the open Periodic-Table-JSON dataset. It is a simplified electron-shell reference, not a scale drawing.Original Bohr model source

What Tellurium's electrons actually do

Tellurium is [Kr]4d10 5s2 5p4, six valence electrons like oxygen and sulfur. By period 5, though, electronegativity has slid to 2.1 — barely above hydrogen — so its 'ionic' compounds are substantially covalent, and the metalloid even conducts electricity modestly.

Where intuition fails with Tellurium

Expecting telluride chemistry to feel like oxide chemistry. CdTe is a semiconductor, not a salt; H2Te is a gas so unstable it decomposes at room temperature. The -2 label carries less ionic reality with each step down the group.

Worked example: Te in a formula problem

Write the formula for cadmium telluride and its charge bookkeeping.

Cd2+ with Te2- gives 1:1 CdTe — the light-absorbing layer of the world's leading thin-film solar panels. The formal charges predict the formula even though the bonding is semiconducting-covalent.

Te2- and Te4+ and Te6+ in real compounds

Na2Te

sodium tellurium compound

Sodium ions can balance Te2- in simple ionic examples.

CaTe

calcium tellurium compound

Calcium ions can balance common negative Tellurium ions.

Questions students ask about tellurium

Why does tellurium give people 'tellurium breath'?

The body methylates absorbed tellurium into dimethyl telluride (Te at -2), exhaled with a garlic reek that can last weeks from microgram exposures — a memorable, if unfortunate, demonstration of biochemical charge processing.

What is tellurium doing in rewritable DVDs?

Phase-change layers like AgInSbTe exploit neutral tellurium's ability to flip between glassy and crystalline states under laser pulses. Storage by structure, not by charge.

Is tellurium really rarer than gold?

In Earth's crust, roughly yes — most of it is recovered as a byproduct of copper refining. Solar-panel demand for CdTe has made this obscure -2 former a strategic material.

How do I use this charge in formulas?

Combine positive and negative ions so the total charge is zero — or let the ionic compound calculator do the crossing for you. The full chart lives on the periodic table with charges.

Where this data comes from

Charges and element facts on this page are checked against the primary references below. Found an error? Email hello@periodictablewithcharges.com — corrections ship in the next content update. See how this site is edited.

PubChem Periodic Table

Used as a reference source for element identity and chemistry context.

Royal Society of Chemistry Periodic Table

Used as a reference source for element identity and chemistry context.

Neighbors of Te on the table

Oxygen chargeO: -2 Sulfur chargeS: -2, +4, +6 Selenium chargeSe: -2, +4, +6 Ytterbium chargeYb: +2, +3 Rubidium chargeRb: +1 Strontium chargeSr: +2