Study the effect of doping cobalt ions into Zn_(2−x)Co_xSiO₄ [x = 0, 0.056 and 0.167] structures on the optical properties and color parameters: experiment and calculation

Synthesis of high-color intensity blue pigments and using less amount of cobalt is intended in many papers. We also tried to study a highly intensified blue pigment using the least amount of cobalt in experimental and theoretical methods. In this work, the Zn_(2−x)Co_xSiO₄ [x = 0, 0.056, and 0.167] structures were synthesized by the conventional ceramic method. Theoretical calculations were performed using DFT, DFT + U, and many-body F_xc kernel for the long-range correction (LRC) model. We studied the structural, electronic, and optical properties of the structures. A good match was observed between the experimental and theoretical results for all doped and undoped samples. The calculations of electronic properties revealed a decrease in the gap and Fermi energies of the theoretical samples as the doping concentration increased. The optical analysis, which utilizes UV–Vis spectroscopy and CIE L^*a^*b^* calorimetric methods, showed a high blue color intensity (b* = − 49.3, − 46.71) obtained for pigments. Additionally, a comparison was made between the gap energy and color of the experimental and the theoretical samples. These findings highlight the capability of DFT, DFT + U, and F_xc kernel for the LRC model for ceramic pigments.