Breakthroughs in Science

OSU pigment discovery expanding to new colors – including orange
David Stauth, Oregon State University News and Communication

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Chemists at Oregon State University have discovered that the same crystal structure they identified two years ago to create what may be the world’s best blue pigment can also be used with different elements to create other colors, with significant potential in the paint and pigment industries.

First on the list, appropriately, is a brilliant orange pigment – appropriate for the OSU Beavers whose team colors are black and orange, and a university in a “Powered by Orange” advancement campaign.

But the broader potential for these pigments, researchers say, is the ability to tweak essentially the same chemical structure in slightly different ways to create a whole range of new colors in pigments that may be safer to produce, more durable and more environmentally benign than many of those that now exist.

Among the possibilities, they say, are colors that should be of interest to OSU’s athletic rival 40 miles down the road at the University of Oregon – yellow and green.

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