Reactions of laser-ablated tellurium atoms with oxygen molecules: Matrix isolation infrared and DFT studies

Laser ablation of tellurium was carried out using the second harmonic Nd:YAG laser in the presence of oxygen molecules in argon/nitrogen matrices. The major species obtained in the Ar matrix were Te2O2, TeO2, Te2O4 and the minor species were TeO, Te2O and TeO3. In N2 matrix, in addition to the above primary ablation products, reaction products TeN and Te2N were also observed. The structure, energies and the vibrational frequencies of different tellurium oxide and nitride species were carried out using DFT calculations. The computed vibrational frequencies were corroborated with experimental frequencies.