Understanding the interactions between lignin and inorganic oxides has both fundamental and practical importance in industrial and energy fields. In this work, the specific interactions between alkali lignin (AL) and three inorganic oxide substrates in aqueous environment are quantitatively measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results show that the average adhesion force between AL and metal oxide such as Al2O3 or MgO is nearly two times bigger than that between AL and nonmetal oxide such as SiO2 due to the electrostatic difference and cation-pi interaction. When 83% hydroxyl groups of AL is blocked by acetylation, the adhesion forces between AL and Al2O3, MgO and SiO2 decrease 43,35 and 75% respectively, which indicate hydrogen bonds play an important role between AL and inorganic oxides, especially in AL-silica system. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.