A ZrTiO4–ZrSnO4 solid solution containing V with Al, In or Y as co-dopants was synthesised by solid state
reaction, resulting in a brilliant and saturated yellow coloration, even at a low doping level (0.03 mol%). These
compounds have a srilankite-type crystal structure with a disordered cation distribution in a single octahedral site,
where Zr, Ti, Sn and dopants are randomly accommodated. Dopants provoked an increasing of the unit-cell
dimensions, metal–oxygen distances and octahedron distortion with respect to undoped Zr(Ti,Sn)O4, that are not
proportional to the change of mean cationic size induced by V and Al, In or Y. This suggests that the involved
substitution mechanism to achieve charge balance might not be simply ascribed to the heterovalent isomorphous
replacement.