Color Controllable Inorganic Pigments with Ce3+as a Color Source

The Ba2RE1–xCexTaO6(RE = La, Gd, Y; 0 ≤ x≤ 1) pigments were synthesized by a conventional solid-state reaction method to develop environmentally friendly reddish inorganic pigments. The host was the double-perovskite-type Ba2RETaO6(RE: rare-earth elements), and the color source was Ce3+. All Ba2RE1–xCexTaO6samples were obtained in a single-phase form as solid solutions. Rietveld refinement analysis of the Ba2RETaO6(RE = La, Ce, Gd, and Y) samples revealed that the average bond length between RE3+and O depends on the ionic radius of RE3+, and the shorter the RE–O length, the stronger the crystal field surrounding Ce3+. A photon energy at the maximum 4f–5d absorption of Ce3+depended on the weighted average ionic radius (rRE) at the RE3+site (i.e., the crystal field energy around the Ce3+ions). In response to this phenomenon, the sample color was changed in order to orange, red, pink, and violet with a decrease in the rREvalue, and a hue angle (h°) was roughly linearly related to that. For validation of the tendency, we demonstrated the synthesis and characterization of Ba2La0.5–yYyCe0.5TaO6to obtain a more reddish color. As we exactly expected, a more reddish color was obtained while maintaining a high Cvalue. Furthermore, the h° values for y= 0.1 and 0.2 were in good agreement with our estimation. In light of the above results, by controlling the intensity of the crystal field surrounding Ce3+and/or the concentration of Ce3+, the optical absorption wavelength and absorption intensity of the Ba2RE1–xCexTaO6system can be changed to adjust the color.