Carbon black nanopowders are widely used in many industrial fields, including ink, paint and coating applications; asphalt sealants and decorative concrete colourants; and textiles and conductive / resistive applications.

There are several applications where the carbon black has to be dispersed in non-aqueous media and a lot of effort has been spent, mostly based on empirical formulation, in finding the best medium to disperse carbon black particles to minimise the presence of aggregates.

For different dispersion media, one parameter that relates the charge transfer capability and the surface charge of dispersed particles is the dielectric constant. A systematic way to find the best medium for the dispersion of carbon black particles is to measure its zeta potential and particle size in media of various relative permittivities.