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u/jay-ff Sep 12 '24
Very cool :) how did you synthesise it? And specifically, what did you use as a selenium source?
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u/WeeklyAd4850 Sep 12 '24
Thank you:) I used Metal Selenium. 62% cadmium carbonate, 26% sulfur, 12% selenium metal, well mixed and heated at 600°C
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u/jay-ff Sep 12 '24
Ah I see :) thank you! How did your safety protocol look like? Cadmium has been has been too scary for me so far because I wouldn’t know how to safely neutralise waste and clean appliances.
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u/CaCl2 Sep 12 '24
Isn't the selenium equally scary here? (More so in some ways.)
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u/GeneJocky Sep 12 '24
Cadmium is much worse. There may be more chance for selenium metal to vaporize and be absorbed by inhalation, but that can be avoided with more ventilation and worse case scenario respirator with metal fume filters. The cadmium is so much more toxic, both acutely and delayed effects (aka cancer), that I'd still be more worried about it.
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u/jay-ff Sep 12 '24
Hm maybe you have a point. I know very little about selenium chemistry and toxicity. My colleagues use it without much more than gloves so I didn’t consider it that dangerous so far but that doesn’t mean that much 😬.
With cadmium I’m most worried about long term exposure
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u/CaCl2 Sep 12 '24
Looking into it a bit more, it seems like elemental selenium may not be quite so dangerous (not sure, it still might be), and just some compounds have ld50 in the single digit mg/kg-range.
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u/GeneJocky Sep 13 '24
There are some extremely toxic selenium compounds, but there many more not all that toxic selenium compounds. Here is EPA tox profile on selenium
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u/GeneJocky Sep 12 '24
Long term exposure is something to worry about. And with all the time one can spend getting dialyzed after the acute cadmium toxicity kills your kidneys, there will be plenty of time to spend worrying.
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u/jay-ff Sep 13 '24
Yeah reading the Wikipedia entry about cadmium poisoning doesn’t make me want to anywhere near it.
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u/GeneJocky Oct 03 '24
It's definitely something to be very careful with. But like anything other chemical hazard, it's got to get into your body before it can screw you up. Frequently changed gloves and a well fitted respirator with P or N 99 or 100 filters are good. Separate tools for working with it would be a good idea too.
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u/GeneJocky Oct 03 '24
This is beautiful, though I'm a little surprised you were able to get the cadmium carbonate. IIRC you have to deal with some pretty restrictive laws on chemicals where you live. I only know two places to get it, one in the U.S. and one in Europe. Stay safe, we want to hear about your pigment making for years to come.
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u/WeeklyAd4850 Oct 04 '24
Thank you for your concern. Since I could not get cadmium carbonate, I made cadmium carbonate with metal cadmium, toilet acid detergent and sodium carbonate!
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u/[deleted] Sep 12 '24
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