Cadmium Yellow

Artificial inorganic pigment

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Composition and Properties of Cadmium Yellow

Cadmium yellow is cadmium sulfide CdS. There are many different color variations achieved by an admixture of zinc sulfide (light yellow), and selenium sulfide (orange to red). The variations are solid solutions of either zinc sulfide or selenium sulfide in cadmium sulfide.

It is stable as a pure pigment. The occurrences of bleaching or darkening in the beginnings of its use were due to impurities (1). Changes in the pigment with time were investigated by several methods such as x-ray fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy (2,3).  The pigment is lightfast and there are no reports to the contrary, but it is not compatible with lead and copper-containing pigments as they form dark sulfides of lead or copper.  

Video: 'Don't Fade Away - Saving the Vivid Yellows of Matisse and van Gogh' by Jennifer Mass

References

(1) Fiedler, I., Bayard, M.A., Cadmium Yellows, Oranges, and Reds, in Artists’ Pigments. A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol. 1: Feller, R.L. (Ed.) Oxford University Press 1986, p. 65 – 108. Available as pdf from the National Gallery of Art.

(2) E. Pouyet, M. Cotte, B. Fayard, M. Salomé, F. Meirer, A. Mehta, E. S. Uffelman, A. Hull, F. Vanmeert and 5 more, 2D X-ray and FTIR micro-analysis of the degradation of cadmium yellow pigment in paintings of Henri Matisse, Applied Physics A, November 2015, Volume 121, Issue 3, pp 967-980.

(3)  Geert Van der Snickt, Koen Janssens, Joris Dik, Wout De Nolf, Frederik Vanmeert, Jacub Jaroszewicz, Marine Cotte, Gerald Falkenberg, Luuk Van der Loeff, Combined use of Synchrotron Radiation Based Micro-X-ray Fluorescence, Micro-X-ray Diffraction, Micro-X-ray Absorption Near-Edge, and Micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopies for Revealing an Alternative Degradation Pathway of the Pigment Cadmium Yellow in a Painting by Van Gogh, Analytical Chemistry 08/2012; 84(23). DOI:10.1021/ac3015627 · 5.64.

cadmium-yellow-pigment

Pigment

cadmium-yellow-bottled-pigment

Bottled Pigment

Image courtesy of Technisches Museum Wien

Cadmium-yellow-painted-swatch

Painted swatch

Names of Cadmium Yellow

Alternative names

Aurora yellow, jaune brilliant

Color Index

PY 37, CI 77199

Word origin

Word coined in Modern Latin from cadmia, a word used by ancient naturalists for various earths and oxides (especially zinc carbonate), from Greek kadmeia “Cadmean (earth),” from Kadmos “Cadmus,” legendary founder of Boeotian Thebes. So called because the earth was first found in the vicinity of Thebes (Kadmeioi was an alternative name for “Thebans” since the time of Homer).

From WordFinder

Spain Flag

Cadmiumgelb

German

Spain Flag

Jaune de cadmium

French

Spain Flag

Giallo di cadmio

Italian

Spain Flag

Amarillo de cadmio

Spanish

Preparation of Cadmium Yellow

Attention: Cadmium compounds are highly toxic and should not be handled by people not trained to do so.

Cadmium yellow can either be prepared by heating of metallic cadmium with sulfur or by precipitation of the unsoluble cadmium sulfide by a reaction of a solution of a cadmium salt, such as cadmium chloride, with a solution of sodium sulfide. The pigment can also be prepared in the laboratory provided it is equipped with a good functioning fume hood as the gaseous hydrogen sulfide H2S which is produced when sodium sulfide is solved in water is poisonous and has a very unpleasant odor (the same as rotten eggs).

Preparation of the Pigment in the Lab

A solution of  9,7 g cadmium nitrate Cd(NO3)2 · 4 H2O in 50 ml deionized water is poured into the solution of 8,3 g sodium sulfide Na2S · 9 H2O in 50 ml deionized water while mixing. The resulting precipitate is then filtered, dried and homogenized in a mortar.

 

cadmium_yellow_preparation_2

cadmium_yellow_preparation_3

cadmium_yellow_preparation_4

Video: 'Preparation of the Pigment' by The Alchemical Arts

Cadmium sulfide occurs naturally as the mineral greenockite but the mineral has never been used as a pigment.

Mineral Greenockite

Greenockite-259580

image Ch. Rewitzer

History of Use 

Cadmium pigments have been in use since about 1840 until today. They might get banned in the European Union in the next future because of their toxicity.

Examples of use

Claude Monet, Water-Lilies, after 1916

Monet-Water-lilies-pigments

 

Bright yellow impasto (paint laid on an area very thickly): cadmium yellow.

Monet_Water-lilies-pigments-1-2-3

Identification

Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectra (FORS)
Infrared Spectrum

1. IR Spectrum of cadmium yellow in the ATR-FT-IR spectra of different pure inorganic pigments, University of Tartu, Estonia. 2. IR Spectrum of cadmium yellow in linseed oil by S. Vahur, Database of ATR-IR spectra of materials related to paints and coatings, University of Tartu, Estonia

IR_spectrum_cadmium_yellow_kremer-pigmente_linseed-_oilSpectrum by S. Vahur, Database of ATR-IR spectra of materials related to paints and coatings, University of Tartu, Estonia  

Raman Spectrum

Raman_spectrum_cadmium_sulfide

Spectrum by Ian M. Bell, Robin J.H. Clark and Peter J. Gibbs, Raman Spectroscopic Library University College of London

X-Ray Fluorescence Spektrum (XRF)

XRF Spectrum in the Free XRF Spectroscopy Database of Pigments Checker, CHSOS website.

References

 (1) Thoury M, Delaney JK, Rie ER, Palmer M, Morales K, Krueger J., Near-infrared luminescence of cadmium pigments: in situ identification and mapping in paintingsAppl Spectrosc. 2011 Aug;65(8):939-51. doi: 10.1366/11-06230.

cadmium-yellow-microphotograph

Microphotograph

image © Volker Emrath

Further Reading

References

(1) Fiedler, I., Bayard, M.A., Cadmium Yellows, Oranges, and Reds, in Artists’ Pigments. A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol. 1: Feller, R.L. (Ed.) Oxford University Press 1986, p. 65 – 108. Available as pdf from the National Gallery of Art.

(2) S. Muntwyler, J. Lipscher, HP. Schneider, Das Farbenbuch, 2nd. Ed., 2023, alataverlag Elsau, pp. 106-107.