Influence of anchoring group of dispersants on the dispersion performance of Pigment Red 122

Polymer dispersants are widely used for the dispersing of organic pigments, and the stability of the pigment suspension significantly influences the practical application. The anchoring groups in polymer dispersants adsorb on the pigment surfaces, which is the key factor on the dispersion and the stability of pigment suspension. In this study, the dispersants with different anchoring groups were synthesized by solution polymerization to investigate the effect of the anchoring groups on the dispersion of Pigment Red 122. The results demonstrated that the dispersants with the pyridine group as the anchoring group exhibited better dispersion stability, compared to those with a phenyl ring, an aminic function, and an alkyl chain as the anchoring groups. In addition, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was used to reveal the interaction energy between polymer dispersants and Pigment Red 122. The MD simulation results indicated that the interaction energy of the dispersant with a pyridine anchoring group was the maximum at approximately −368.70 kcal/mol, which was consistent with the experiment results.