The search for new ceramic pigments is now a high-priority
field in the ceramics industry because of the scarce variety of
existing ones and the limitation imposed on their use by the
current technological and ecological requirements [1,2]. The
rare earth oxides, which are believed to be less toxic compared
with transition metal ions, have a bright appearance and have
potential to form ceramic colors. Research in the fields of
ceramic pigments is oriented toward the enlargement of the
chromatic set of colors together with an increased thermal and
chemical stability. Pigments based on cerium dioxide are lesser
known and represent only a small, but an important range of
inorganic pigments. As pigments of red to orange hue, sulfides
of Ce3+ (4f15d0) ions such as g-Ce2S3 and its alkali-metal
derivatives g-Ce2xA3xS3 (A = alkali) have been proposed
[3–5]. Pr-doped ceria pigments [6] give various pink-orange to redbrown
hues, depending on the quantity of praseodymium,