By Staff Writer: Jerri Clewis
Blue. It is a simple color that a person can see dozens, if not hundreds, of times a day in various forms. The dyes used for these products have had a problematic history due to heavy metals and fading, but that may be changing since the discovery of a more stable blue.
Graduate student Andrew Smith was exploring the electronic properties of manganese oxide by heating it to approximately 1200°C (~2000°F) in 2009 when a blue compound came out of the experiment, according to Oregon State University. Mas Subramanian, professor of materials science, immediately knew the surprise was a groundbreaking discovery, allegedly the first new blue to be created in two centuries. The color earned the name YInMn Blue, or “MasBlue” as Oregon State calls it.
The pigment contains the elements Yttrium, Indium, Manganese, and Oxygen.
Blue has been a histologically complicated color when it comes to dyes. In early modern Europe, blue dye was an expensive pigment usually reserved in artwork for the most important subjects, such as religious or royal figures. Sometimes artists never finished their art because they couldn’t afford to buy more pigment. Many dyes were also prone to fading.
Chemists worked to develop a cheaper, more vibrant, and stable color through the centuries, and new blue dyes began to appear on the market. Ultramarine, woad, indigo, and cobalt were blue dyes that captivated the world.
The French chemist Louis Jaques Thénard allegedly created a new blue, Cobalt Blue, in the early 1800s while experimenting with a cobalt-arsenic compound used in Sèvres porcelain, according to Royal Talens. Cobalt blue was less prone to fading and is still in use today, even inspiring several cobalt variants in other colors throughout the years.
Like Louis Jaques Thénard, the Oregon State discovery has inspired a range of new pigments, including almost every color. Subramanian and his team are still searching for a new stable, heat-reflecting, and vibrant shade of red to add to their collection of pigments.