Preparation of high near-infrared reflectance mica/(Ni,Sb)-co-doped rutile yellow composite pigment via mechanochemical pretreatment and sintering

Mica/(Ni, Sb)-co-doped rutile yellow composite pigment with a high near-infrared reflectance was prepared via mechanochemical pretreatment and subsequent sintering. (Ni, Sb)-co-doped rutile yellow pigment was synthesized by a solid-phase method in the presence of sodium fluoride (NaF) as a mineralizer, and mica was peeled by ultrafine grinding. The pigment, mica and mica/pigment composite were characterized by X-ray diffraction, laser diffraction particle size analysis, nitrogen gas adsorption method, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared spectroscopy, CIEL*a*b* color scales, and infrared irradiation image, respectively. The results show that the temperature of synthesizing a pure rutile pigment in solid-phase reaction is reduced by 100°C due to the addition of mineralizer NaF. (Ni, Sb)-co-doped rutile pigment has better color rendering performance and near-infrared (NIR) reflectance. Ultrafine grinding produces the finer flatty mica particles with fresh reflective surfaces, thus improving NIR reflectance of peeled mica. In mica/pigment composite prepared via mechanochemical pretreatment and subsequent sintering, peeled mica has a synergistic effect on (Ni, Sb)-co-doped rutile pigment particles to further scatter near-infrared radiation through the multiple layer reflections, leading to a better heat insulation. The high near-infrared reflectance of composite pigment increases to 97.72%, and the b* value of the pigment synthesized with 1 wt% NaF is 37.77. For the irradiation infrared lamp, the surface temperature of aluminum plate coated with mica/(Ni, Sb)-co-doped rutile yellow composite pigment is 40.1 ± 0.2°C, which is lower than that of aluminum plate uncoated determined by thermal camera and thermocouple. When aluminum plate coated with mica/(Ni, Sb)-co-doped rutile yellow composite pigment is under sunshine, its surface temperature is 38.6 ± 0.2°C. In addition, the mechanism of preparing the composite pigment via mechanochemical pretreatment and subsequent sintering and the multiple structure reflection effect on peeled mica surface coated with (Ni, Sb)-co-doped rutile yellow pigment particles were also discussed.