Nano-size ceramic powders Zn0.9Co0.1O as green pigments have been prepared following a nonpolluting, low temperature, and self-sustaining glucose single-fuel combustion synthesis. As-prepared powders were characterized by XRD, FTIR, STA, SEM, TEM-EDX and spectrophotometer. The XRD data confirm that combustion reaction by different fuel ratio resulted in the formation of wurtzite ZnO. Scherer's equation demonstrated that the crystallite size change with five different fuel ratio (31- 45 nm). SEM images illustrated that the morphology of the powder depends on the F/O ratios and changes from Semispherical to irregular particles. TEM investigation performed on powder resulted of combustion in stoichiometric fuel ratio show the formation of irregular and isolated plate-like particle. Colorimetric results also indicated a broad reflectance band around 520 nm (green region) for all samples. The observation of green appearance of different samples synthesized using different fuel/oxidizer ratios was rely on deletion of Cobalt oxide X-ray diffraction patterns and entrance of Co into ZnO structure.

Keywords: green pigments, Low-temperature combustion synthesis, Glucose, Nonpolluting chemistry, Nanopowder.