Patent ID: 7959727

Claim:
A pigment, the particles of which have a length of from 2 μm to 5 mm, a width of from 2 μm to 2 mm, and a ratio of length to thickness of at least 2:1, wherein the particles consist of a core of SiO 2 or a silicon/silicon oxide obtained by heating SiO y flakes with 1.1≦y≦1.8 in an oxygen-free atmosphere at a temperature of at least 400° C., which core has a thickness of from 20 to 200 nm, a defined thickness in the range of 30% of the average thickness, high plane-parallelism and two substantially parallel faces, the distance between which is the shortest axis of the core; and a material layer having a high index of refraction; and optionally an additional layer or layers, which layer or layers consist of a material selected from a dielectric material having a high index of refraction, a dielectric material having a low index of refraction, one or more inorganic colorant, one or more organic colorant and mixtures thereof, which pigment particle may also have a surface treatment.