Dispersion and stability of carbon black nanoparticles, studied by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

Abstract The dispersion and stability of carbon black (CB) nanoparticles in water were investigated using ultra-violet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy. After studying the effects of five dispersants, the most appropriate ones, Triton X-100 and N220 CB, were selected. UV–vis spectra of samples containing different amounts of Triton X-100 and a constant amount of CB were used to find the optimal circumstances of CB dispersion. Also, the stability of the dispersion was studied and it was found that the optimum conditions could be achieved in colloidal mixture containing CB and Triton X-100 in a weight ratio of 2:1. It was clarified that the mixtures containing Triton X-100 up to 50 wt% CB were stable over a period of 20 days. In order to support the UV–vis results additional techniques such as AFM, PSA and FE-SEM were employed.