Crystal structure, chromatic and near-infrared reflective properties of iron doped YMnO3 compounds as colored cool pigments

•Nanocrystalline YFexMn1−xO3 have been synthesized by using the modified citrate method.•The color of the samples changes from blue-green to pale blue and then dark blue.•The NIR reflectance of corresponding pigmented coatings increases from 47.6 to 60.6%.•The solar reflectance of corresponding pigmented coatings increases from 20.4 to 28.4%.•The designed YFexMn1−xO3 pigment formulations can well serve as colored cool colorants.

The new application of YFexMn1−xO3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20) compounds as colored cool inorganic pigment has been developed. Nanocrystalline YFexMn1−xO3 samples with different average grain sizes have been synthesized by modified citrate method at a certain calcination temperature. The structure of these compounds changes by the increase in degree of substitution from the hexagonal to the orthorhombic perovskite. With the increase of Fe content, the color of the designed pigments changes from blue-green to pale blue and then dark blue. Most importantly the near-infrared reflectance and solar reflectance values of corresponding pigmented coatings increase from 47.6 to 60.6% and from 20.4 to 28.4% with increasing Fe content from x = 0 to 0.15, respectively, which are higher than that of commercially available roofing materials of the same color.