We have prepared oxynitride pigments showing various colors by tuning the O/N, Ti/La and Sr/La ratios independently in the perovskite-type (La,Sr) TiO
2N. The increase in O/N ratio led to enhancement of bandgap energy, that is, blueshift of the absorption edge, resulting in the color change from reddish orange to white through yellow. The increase in Ti/La ratio lowered the reflectivity in the longer wavelength region after the absorption edge. The substitution of La by Sr improved the reflectivity in the longer wavelength region. Especially, in cation-nonstoichiometric oxynitrides with Ti/(La+Sr) > 1, the Sr-substitution enhanced the reflectivity in the region just after the absorption edge and efficiently reduced the reflectivity in the red region, probably due to the formation of a lot of anion deficiency. These features have enabled us to produce La-Sr-Ti-O-N oxynitride pigments showing the three primary colors composed of nontoxic and ecological elements.
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