Electrophoretic mobilities of concentrated dispersions of carbon black particles in a low-permittivity solvent were measured using differential-phase optical coherence tomography (DP-OCT). An electrode spacing of only 0.18 mm enables measurement of highly concentrated dispersions up to 1 wt.% of highly absorbing carbon black particles with high electric fields at low potentials. The capabilities of this DP-OCT method, including high sensitivity, high spatial resolution, and strong electric fields, enable enhanced measurement of low electrophoretic mobilities encountered in low-permittivity solvents. The zeta potential of carbon black particles ranged from -24 mV to -12 mV as the concentration of surfactant sodium bis(2-ethyl-1-hexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) was increased from 1 mM to 100 mM. A mechanism is presented to explain the electrostatic charging of carbon black particles in terms of the partitioning of the ions between the reverse micelles in the double layer and the surfactant adsorbed on the particle surface, as AOT concentration is varied. (c) 2010 Published by Elsevier Inc.