Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to develop NIR-reflective inorganic core-shell red pigments. Fe₂O₃ was acted as a pigment core and encapsulated with a transparent SiO₂ and ZrSiO₄ shell layer via sol-gel process. The first part was to synthesize Fe₂O₃@SiO₂ pigments and studied the effect of CTAB surfactant at different concentration between 0-2 mM on structural formation and thickness of SiO₂ layer. The second part was to synthesize Fe₂O₃@ZrSiO₄ and Fe₂O₃@SiO2@ZrSiO₄ pigments and studied the influence of ZrSiO₄ layer on pigment color shade and NIR reflectivity. For the morphological analysis of Fe₂O₃@SiO₂ pigments, the results showed that the thickness of the SiO₂ layer on the Fe₂O₃ particle surface was increased from 8 to 62 nm with increasing the concentration of CTAB. After encapsulation, Fe₂O₃@SiO₂ pigments still had the red hue of hematite and the NIR reflectivity improved to 62.7%-65.3%, or twice that of the hematite, and the reflectivity did not depend on the thickness of the SiO₂ layer on the Fe₂O₃ particle surface. The morphology analysis of Fe₂O₃@ZrSiO₄ and Fe₂O₃@SiO₂@ZrSiO₄ pigments showed that Fe₂O₃ particles were agglomerated under ZrSiO₄ layer due to the formation of glassy phase of the ZrSiO₄ and/or SiO₂ layer on the Fe₂O₃ particle surface. The Fe₂O₃@SiO₂@ZrSiO₄ pigments were bigger than Fe₂O₃@ZrSiO₄ pigments, which the size tended to increase with the thickness of the SiO₂ coating layer on the Fe₂O₃ particle surface. This was because the SiO₂ coating layer could act as a buffer layer to increase the yield of ZrSiO₄ formation. The NIR reflection properties of both pigments showed %R in the range 61.5%-67.5%, and the pigments gave a shade of coral pink due to the substitution of Si3+ and/or Si4+ ion with Fe2+ and/or Fe3+ ion in ZrSiO₄ coating layer. The stability test under acid solution showed that SiO₂ and ZrSiO₄ layer could protect Fe₂O₃ particles from hydrochloric acid (HCl). Where ZrSiO₄ had resistance to HCl better than SiO₂. The stability test of the paint under UV and humidity conditions showed that the paint before and after testing had slight color difference (ΔE) in the range 0.65-2.67. These results showed that the Fe₂O₃@SiO₂ and Fe₂O₃@ZrSiO₄ pigments were suitable for use as cool pigments for coating applications