Short-Range Disorder in TeO 2 Melt and Glass

High-resolution X-ray pair distribution functions for molten and glassy TeO reveal coordination numbers ≈ 4. However, distinct from the known α-, β-, and γ-TeO polymorphs, there is considerable short-range disorder such that no clear cutoff distance between bonded and nonbonded interactions exists. We suggest that this is similar to disorder in δ-TeO and arises from a broad distribution of asymmetric Te-O-Te bridges, something that we observe becomes increasingly asymmetric with increasing liquid temperature. Such behavior is qualitatively consistent with existing interpretations of Raman scattering spectra, and equivalent to temperature-induced coordination number reduction, for sufficiently large cutoff radii. Therefore, TeO contains a distribution of local environments that are, furthermore, temperature dependent, making it distinct from the canonical single-oxide glass formers. Our results are in good agreement with high-level cluster calculations.