Effect of cobalt on zinc oxide nanoparticles in the anticorrosive performance of an alkyd primer. The objective of this research was to study the inhibitory effect of CoO in ZnO obtained by solution combustion synthesis (SCS) when they are incorporated into alkyd formulations. ZnO and mixed oxides of the type Zn1-xCoxO (where x = 0.05-0.10-0.15-0.20) were obtained by SCS and characterized by XRD, ICP-OES, SEM and TEM. The pigments were incorporated into alkyd primers in three proportions, 5%, 10% and 20% by weight pigments / resin. Steel probes protected with the alkyd formulations were tested in salt spray and sulfur dioxide chambers. Likewise, the inhibiting efficiency of the pigments was estimated by electrochemical tests (Tafel method) in 0.1 M NaCl solution. The results showed that CoO improves the inhibitory properties of the ZnO based nano-pigments obtained by SCS.