As perhaps the most exciting thing to happen to the colour blue since Yves Klein, chemists at Oregon State University have accidentally created a blue pigment that is both brilliantly hued and hard wearing. According to a report released in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers were looking at the electronic properties of manganese oxides at high temperatures when a batch of samples came out of the oven a startling shade. “It was blue, a very beautiful blue,” says Mas Subramanian, the Milton Harris Professor of Materials Science in the university’s chemistry department. “I realised immediately that something amazing had happened.” While historically, compounds used to create the colour blue for paint and dyes have been unstable or dangerous—cobalt blue can be carcinogenic, and Prussian blue can release cyanide—this new pigment is safer to produce, can withstand extraordinarily high temperatures and won’t fade even after a week in an acid bath. Get ready to see a lot of artists going through their own "Blue Periods".
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2 Dec 09
21:44 CET
GRRWest, Annaberg-Buchholz
That is really interesting. Blue has always been the hardest pigment to reproduce. Take Lapis-Lazuli. For centuries the most expensive colour... Does anyone know what this new blue is called? I wouldn't mind experimenting with it....