Bismuth Vanadate Yellow

Artificial inorganic pigment

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Composition and Properties of Bismuth Vanadate Yellow

The pigment is a salt with a formula of BiVO4. It can also be considered a mixed oxide of the elements bismuth and vanadium.

The pigment is very stable and weather-resistant, the only exception being its sensitivity to strong alkalis. It has also excellent hiding power and tinting strength. It is non-toxic and can be used as a substitute for the poisonous cadmium, chrome and lead-containing pigments such as cadmium yellow, chrome yellow and lead-tin yellow.

bismuth-vanadate-yellow-crystals

Pigment

Bismuth-vanadate-yellow-painted-swatch

Painted swatch

Names 

Color Index

PY 184, CI 771740

Word origin

Bismuth: from obsolete German Bismuth, also Wismut, Wissmuth, which is of unknown origin; perhaps a miner’s contraction of wis mat “white mass,” from Old High German hwiz “white.” Latinized 1530 by Georgius Agricola (who may have been the first to recognize it as an element) as bisemutum.
From the Online Etymology Dictionary

Vanadium: from Old Norse Vanadis, one of the names of the Norse beauty goddess Freyja.
From the Online Etymology Dictionary

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Bismutgelb, Wismutgelb

German

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Jaune de bismuth

French

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Giallo di bismuto

Italian

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Amarillo de bismuto

Spanish

Preparation 

The pigment can be prepared by slowly adding a solution of sodium vanadate to a solution of bismuth nitrate. The resulting precipitate is then filtered, dried and subsequently heated at 550 – 600 °C for 6 hours (1).

 

Bismuth vanadate can also be found in nature as the mineral pucherite.

Mineral Pucherite

mineral-PucheriteImage by Leon Hupperichs

Video: 'The New Yellow' by Periodic Videos

References

(1) R. Nayak, A. Suryanarayana and S. Bhanojee Rao, Synthesis, Characterisation and Testing of Bismuth Vanadate – An Eco-friendly Yellow Pigment, Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, Vol. 59, October 2000, pp. 833-837. Available as pdf.

History of Use 

The pigment has been in use since about the second half of the twentieth century.

Further Reading

References

(1) R. Nayak, A. Suryanarayana and S. Bhanojee Rao, Synthesis, Characterisation and Testing of Bismuth Vanadate – An Eco-friendly Yellow Pigment, Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, Vol. 59, October 2000, pp. 833-837. Available as pdf.

S. Muntwyler, J. Lipscher, HP. Schneider, Das Farbenbuch, 2nd. Ed., 2023, alataverlag Elsau, p. 118.