Preparation and characterization of water-dispersible carbon black grafted with polyacrylic acid by high-energy electron beam irradiation

In this study, high-energy electron beam irradiation was used for the first time for graft polymerization of acrylic acid onto the surface of carbon black (CB) to prepare water-dispersible CB. The grafted CB was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermo-gravimetric analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results indicate that polyacrylic acid (PAA) has been successfully grafted onto the surface of CB. The particle size and dispersion stability of unmodified and modified CBs in aqueous solution were determined by dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy and ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometer. The results show that the grafted CB has smaller average aggregate size and better dispersion than unmodified CB. In addition, there is no significant difference in the grafting degree among grafted CBs prepared in nitrogen and air at different irradiation doses, indicating that oxygen and irradiation dose have a negligible effect on the grafting degree of PAA.