The bond between tellurium (Te) and bromine (Br) is classified as a polar covalent bond. This classification is based on the difference in electronegativity between the two atoms.
Electronegativity is a measure of how strongly atoms attract shared electrons in a bond. Tellurium has an electronegativity of about 2.1, while bromine has an electronegativity of approximately 2.8. When two atoms with differing electronegativities form a bond, the shared electrons are not distributed evenly; instead, they are more attracted to the atom with the higher electronegativity—in this case, bromine.
This unequal sharing of electrons leads to the formation of a dipole moment, where one end of the bond has a slight negative charge (due to the higher electron density around bromine) and the other end has a slight positive charge (around tellurium). This characteristic of having partial charges is a hallmark of polar covalent bonds.
Additionally, the bond is not ionic because ionic bonds typically occur between atoms with very large differences in electronegativity (usually greater than 1.7), resulting in the transfer of electrons rather than sharing. Since the difference in electronegativity between Te and Br is not greater than this threshold, it confirms that the bond is polar covalent rather than ionic.