By a novel one-step method with convenient and efficient process, porous cobalt aluminate (CoAl2O4) was prepared. The structure, size, morphology, color purity and oil absorption of the powders were characterized. The results indicated that when molar ratio of Co/Al reaches 1:3, the performance of cobalt aluminate is the best and most suitable to be anti-counterfeiting additive. To understand the color control mechanism of cobalt aluminate, the electronic properties were calculated by DFT+U method (where U-eff is set to 4.25 eV) which predicted a band gap of 1.18 eV for cobalt aluminate and illustrated the potential application of semiconductor. Density of states proved that the influential factor of color control depends on Co2+ 3d states and the color range of CoAl2O4 can be effectively adjusted. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.