The present invention relates to weather-resistant pearlescent pigment, comprising a coated or uncoated platelet-shaped substrate which is selected from the group consisting of synthetic mica platelets, glass platelets, SiO.sub.2 platelets, Al.sub.2O.sub.3 platelets, synthetic boehmite platelets, BiOCl platelets and mixtures thereof, a chromophoric coating with at least one highly refractive metal oxide, and a top layer, wherein the top layer comprises the following layer sequence:
a) a first layer made of tin oxide and/or tin hydroxide and/or hydrated tin oxide, b) a second cerium-containing layer which comprises cerium oxide and/or cerium hydroxide and/or hydrated cerium oxide, c) an organic-chemical coating applied to the cerium-containing layer which contains oligomeric silanes or consists of them, wherein the oligomeric silanes have one or more amino groups and the oligomeric silanes are chemically bonded with the cerium-containing layer. The invention further relates to a process for the production and use of these pearlescent pigments.

Disclosed herein is a flaky diffractive effect pigment having a diffractive structure and comprising a flake of a highly reflective material having a first major interface and opposed to this first interface a second major interface, and at least one side surface and directly adjacent on one or of both of these major interfaces a layer of a semiconducting material having a bandgap of 0.7 to 2.5 eV. The diffractive effect pigment may be further coated with a coating which is optically non-active in the visible wavelength region.

A composition including a first color shifting pigment flake population having a first D50 particle size; and a second color shifting pigment flake population having a second D50 particle size that is different from the first D50 particle size, wherein the first color shifting pigment flake population and the second color shifting pigment flake population have a similar face color and color shift is disclosed. An article including the composition is included. A method of making the composition and a method of making the article are also disclosed.

In some implementations, a pigment material includes an encapsulation material; and a flake structure disposed in the encapsulation material. The flake structure may include a core layer, wherein the core layer is a reflector layer, a set of metal barrier layers at least partially encapsulating the core layer, and a set of dielectric layers at least partially sandwiching the set of barrier layers.

An asymmetric pigment including a first Fabry-Perot structure; and a second Fabry-Perot structure; wherein the first Fabry-Perot structure and the second Fabry-Perot structure have a similar hue angle within +/45 degrees is disclosed. Other asymmetric pigments are also disclosed as well as methods of making the disclosed pigments.

An optical device includes a reflector layer; a selective light modulating layer external to the reflector layer; and functional molecules present in at least one of the selective light modulating layer, in a functional layer external to a surface of the selective light modulating layer, in the selective light modulating layer near an external surface, in the selective light modulating layer near the reflector layer, and in a functional layer external to the reflector layer. A method of making an optical device is also disclosed.

A composition including a dual cavity color shirting pigment and a single cavity color shifting pigment is disclosed. A method of making the composition is also disclosed.