Surface modification and characterization of carbon black by sodium lignosulphonate

Carbon black (CB) was encapsulated by the sodium lignosulphonate via the strong π–π* interaction force of aromatic ring in the planetary ball milling instrument. The use of new surfactant and ball milling instrument met the requirements about the low‐cost standard and provided an important sense to industrialization in comparison with the old surfactant, the poly(sodium 4‐styrenesulfonate). The successful encapsulation was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis. Encapsulation ratio of the modified CB increased to 15.9% when CB was prepared at longer milling time and with agate balls in different size. The morphology and dispersibility of samples studied by transmission electron microscope, sedimentation experiment and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy showed that the modified CB dispersed stably in the deionized water. The average diameter and absolute value of zeta potential of the modified CB decreased and increased compared with those of CB, respectively, which confirmed further that sodium lignosulphonate encapsulated on the surface of CB make CB disperse better. In addition, the average diameter and zeta potential of the samples were affected by ball milling conditions. The modified CB prepared at longer milling time and with different sizes of agate balls had better dispersibility than the ones prepared at shorter milling time and with same size of agate balls. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.