Silver mercury tetraiodide (Ag,HgI ) is a well known thermochromic pigment that
changes color from yellow to ornge at 50 C. The compound is also a fast ion conductor
above its phase transition temperature. We synthesized a number of analogues
of this compound in which the silver was replaced by cadmium, lead, thallium(I),
copper(I), indium(I), gold(I), lithium, cesium and rubidium to determine the range
of color transitions and the correlation of electrical conductivity with optical and
thermal activity. This paper also reports on continued research to assess the
possibility of using these pigments in architectural coatings.
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