The so-called organic dyes refer to a class of water-soluble, macromolecular organic compounds with chromophoric groups. Inorganic pigments refer to colored metal oxides or insoluble metal salts. Inorganic pigments are mainly divided into natural inorganic pigments (mineral pigments) and artificially manufactured inorganic pigments.

So how to judge whether the pigment toner is an organic dye or an inorganic pigment? Carbon is an inorganic substance. Only a substance synthesized by the triple elements of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen may be an organic substance. The triple element composition is sufficient, and the specific method is to calculate the CO2 loss by weighing after combustion.

1 The difference in the production process

The earliest organic dyes were mainly extracted from animals and plants, such as indigo, carmine, etc. These organic dyes have a long history of development, while synthetic dyes began to appear in 1856. So far, there are many kinds of artificially synthesized dyes, and they are widely used in various industries. Inorganic pigments are basically small molecular chemical substances with relatively simple structures, such as cadmium red, cadmium yellow, titanium dioxide, carbon black, iron oxide red, iron oxide yellow, etc. Compared with organic dyes, its structure will be more complex and bulkier.

2 Differences in physical properties

The biggest difference between organic dyes and inorganic pigments is whether they can be dissolved in water. Dyes are water-soluble and form a colloidal solution in water, while pigments are not water-soluble and can only be diffused and dispersed in water through dispersants and fillers. In the solution, there is also whether it is in a suspended state in the linking material. However, there are also some organic dyes that are not easily soluble in water after treatment. In today's practical applications, organic dyes with insoluble characteristics mainly include phthalocyanine dyes, some vat dyes, and salt-based dyes after lake treatment. Therefore, sometimes these two pigments can be used interchangeably to show better pigment color and more stable color effect.

3 different scopes of use

The earliest use of dyes is to dye textiles, while the traditional use of inorganic pigments is to color non-textiles, which are often used for painting, wall paint and paint pigments. This is because dyes have a very strong affinity for textiles and can be adsorbed and fixed by fiber molecules, while inorganic pigments have no affinity for all coloring objects, mainly relying on resins, adhesives and other film-forming substances combined with coloring objects. The dye is generally dissolved in the medium during use. Whether it is a disperse dye or a vat dye, it needs to be dissolved from a crystal state to a molecular state before it can be dyed on the fiber. Therefore, the color of the dye itself does not represent it. Color on fabric. The pigment is insoluble in the medium used in the application process, and can only exist in the original crystal state, so the color of the pigment itself is its color on the colored substrate.