What are the industrial uses of selenium?

Electronics industry
Selenium has photosensitivity and semiconductor properties, and is often used in the electronics industry to manufacture photocells, photosensors, laser devices, infrared controllers, photocells, photoresistors, optical instruments, photometers, rectifiers, etc. The application of selenium in the electronics industry accounts for about 30% of the total demand. High purity selenium (99.99%) and selenium alloys are the main light-absorbing media in photocopiers, used in plain paper copiers and photoreceptors for laser presses. The important feature of gray selenium is that it has typical semiconductor properties and can be used for radio wave detection and rectification. Selenium rectifier has the characteristics of load resistance, high temperature resistance and good electrical stability.

Glass industry
Selenium is a good physical decolorizer and is often used in the glass industry. If the glass raw material contains iron ions, the glass will show light green, and selenium is a solid with metallic luster, adding a small amount of selenium can make the glass appear red, green and red complement each other, make the glass colorless, if excessive selenium is added, you can make the famous ruby glass – selenium glass. Selenium and other metals can be used together to give glass different colors such as gray, bronze and pink. Black glass used in buildings and cars also contains selenium, which reduces the intensity of light and the speed of heat transfer. In addition, selenium glass can also be used to manufacture the lampshade of the signal red light at the intersection.

Metallurgical industry
Selenium can improve the workability of steel, so it is often used in metallurgical industry. Adding 0.3-0.5% selenium to cast iron, stainless steel and copper alloys can improve their mechanical properties, make the structure more dense, and the surface of the machined parts more smooth. Alloys composed of selenium and other elements are often used in the manufacture of low-voltage rectifiers, photocells, and thermoelectric materials.

Chemical industry
Selenium and its compounds are often used as catalysts, vulcanizers and antioxidants. The use of selenium as catalyst has the advantages of mild reaction conditions, low cost, little environmental pollution, convenient post-treatment, etc. For example, elemental selenium is the catalyst in the process of preparing elemental sulfur by sulfite reaction. In the process of rubber production, selenium is commonly used as a vulcanizing agent to enhance the wear resistance of rubber.

Healthcare industry
Selenium is an important part of some antioxidant enzymes (glutathione peroxidase) and selenium-P protein in animals and humans, which can improve human immunity, cancer, stomach diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, prostate diseases, vision diseases, etc., so selenium is widely used in the medical field for treatment and alleviation of various diseases caused by selenium deficiency. Since selenium is a necessary trace element for the human body and has an important impact on human health, the healthcare industry has begun to develop various selenium supplement products, such as malt selenium.

Other applications
In agricultural production, selenium can be added to fertilizer to improve the state of soil selenium deficiency and promote plant growth. Selenium is also used in cosmetics, and some cosmetics containing selenium have anti-aging effects. In addition, adding selenium to the plating solution can improve the appearance of the plating parts, so it is also applied to the plating industry.