Synthesis of spherical CoAl2O4 pigment particles with high reflectivity by polymeric-aerosol pyrolysis

Spherical cobalt blue particles with good reflectivity characteristics were synthesized by spray pyrolysis. Two different spray solutions were prepared to investigate the differences in the morphology and the reflectivity properties of cobalt blue particles. One was an aqueous solution, and the other was a polycation solution that was obtained by chemically modifying the aqueous solution with NH4OH. The cobalt blue particles prepared with the aqueous solution had an irregular morphology after heat treatment at 1000°C for 2 h. On the contrary, spherical and dense particles were obtained from the polycation solution. The spherical and dense cobalt blue particles showed remarkable improvement in reflectivity compared with that of irregular morphology particles as well as the commercial.