Using a recently developed sol-gel route to prepare new Ti
4+@ZnO nanocolloids, we were able to synthesize,at relatively low temperature (maximum 750
C) and very short annealing time (1 h) under ammonia gasflow, nanosized colored "Zn
1.33Ti
1.33O
4-3yN
2y" oxynitride powders (Zn/Ti = 1) with tunable optical absorption.Above the dissociation temperature of ammonia, the UV-vis spectra are progressively red-shifted withincreasing nitriding temperature and the nanosized powder shows a yellowish color at 700
C under NH
3.X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, oxygen and nitrogenanalysis, and UV-vis spectroscopy measurements show that this red shift is directly related to the nitrogencontent.