Fully Superhydrophilic, Self-Floatable, and Multi-Contamination-Resistant Solar Steam Generator Inspired by Seaweed

Highly hydrophilic materials enable rapid water delivery and salt redissolution in solar-driven seawater desalination. However, the lack of independent floatability inhibits heat localization at the air/water interface. In nature, seaweeds with internal gas microvesicles can float near the sea surface to ensure photosynthesis. Here, we have developed a seaweed-inspired, independently floatable, but superhydrophilic (SIFS) solar evaporator. It needs no extra floatation support and can simultaneously achieve continuous water pumping and heat concentration. The evaporator resists salt accumulation, oil pollution, microbial corrosion, and protein adsorption. Densely packed hollow glass microbeads promote intrinsic floatability and heat insulation. Superhydrophilic zwitterionic sulfobetaine hydrogel provides a continuous water supply, redissolves the deposited salt, and endows the SIFS evaporator with excellent anti-fouling properties. With its unprecedented anti-contamination ability, this SIFS evaporator is expected to open a new avenue for designing floatable superhydrophilic materials and solving real-world issues of solar steam generation in complex environmental conditions.

Density functional theory study on natural hydrophobicity of sulfide surfaces

Adsorption of water on sulfide surfaces and natural floatability of sulfide minerals were studied using density functional theory （DFT） method. All computational models were built in a vacuum environment to eliminate the effects of oxygen and other factors. H2O molecule prefers to stay with pyrite and sphalerite surfaces rather than water, whereas for galena, chalcocite, stibnite, and molybdenite, H2O molecule prefers to stay with water rather than the mineral surfaces. On the other hand, pyrite surface favors N2 more than water, while sphalerite surface cannot adsorb N2. These results show that galena, stibnite, chalcocite, and molybdenite are hydrophobic, while sphalerite is hydrophilic. Although pyrite has certain hydrophilicity, it tends to be aerophilic because the reaction of pyrite with H2O is weaker than pyrite with N2. Thus, pyrite, galena, chalcocite, stibnite and molybdenite all have natural floatability.

Adhesion forces for water/oil droplet and bubble on coking coal surfaces with different roughness

Surface roughness plays a significant role in floatability of coal.In the present paper,coking coal surface was polished by three different sandpapers and the surface properties were characterized by contact angle and roughness measurements.The effect of surface roughness on floatability was investigated by adhesion force measurement system for measuring interaction forces between droplets/bubbles and coking coal surfaces with different roughness.The results showed that the contact angle decreased with increasing roughness yet the adhesion force between the water droplet and coal surface increased owing to the increased contact line and the appearance of line pinning.Maximum adhesion forces between water and surfaces were 111.70,125.48,and 136.42μN when the roughness was 0.23,0.98,and 2.79 μm,respectively.In contrast,under a liquid environment,the adhesion forces between air bubble/oil droplet and coal surfaces were decreased with increasing roughness because of the restriction by water.Maximum adhesion forces of increasing roughness were 97.14,42.76,and 17.86 μN measured at interfaces between air bubble and coal surfaces and 169.48,145.84,and 121.02 lN between oil droplet and surfaces,respectively.Decreasing roughness could be beneficial to the spreading of oil droplets and the adhesion of bubbles which is conducive to flotation separation.

Mechanochemical sulfidization of a mixed oxide-sulphide copper ore by co-grinding with sulfur and its effect on the flotation efficiency

Mechanochemical sulfidization of a mixed sulfide/oxide copper ore by co-grinding with sulfur and additives including Mg(NO3)2 and Fe(NO3)3 salts and iron,aluminum and magnesium powders was investigated for the first time.Also,the influence of sulfidization during the wet-milling process was examined on the separation efficiency and recovery of copper in detail.The results demonstrated that co-grinding with sulfur solely had the best flotation performance at the value of 0.5 wt.%and it was attributed to the possible existence of S\\O bonding on copper oxides surfaces.In addition,adding magnesium nitrate salt,magnesium powder,iron nitrate salt and aluminum powder as additive associated with 0.5 wt%sulfur into ball milling caused the flotation improvement at the amounts of 0.2 wt%,0.2 wt%,0.5 wt%and 0.5 wt%,respectively.Also,the effect of grinding time and sulfidization pH with 0.5 wt%sulfur solely was determined and pH s of 7.5 to 8.5 gave the best results.The highest recovery(75.76%)and separation efficiency(63.44%)were achieved at pH of 7.5 and 8.5,respectively.

Insights into the floatability between spodumene and albite from crystal chemistry standpoint

Spodumene is a silicate mineral rich in lithium.However,the gangue mineral,albite has similar crystal chemical structure and composition to spodumene.In this work,the density functional theory(DFT)calculation was taken to research the floatability from the perspective of crystal chemistry.And contact angle test and reagent adsorption test were used to support the simulation results.In addition,the weighted total density of broken bonds is proposed for the first time to judge the generation probability of cleavage surface.The DFT calculation results display that the Na and Al sites on the albite surface are the adsorption sites of water molecules.While the water molecules only bond with Al atom on the surface of spodumene and each Al site can adsorb only one water molecule.Thus,the wetting effect of water molecules on the albite surface is stronger than that of spodumene.This is consistent with the result of contact angle.In sodium oleate system,the oleic acid anion is adsorbed on the spodumene surface in form of a multicomponent ring while the albite is a single ring.Theoretically,oleic acid anion can be strongly adsorbed on the surface of spodumene and albite under vacuum.The adsorption strength of spodumene is higher than that of albite.However,on hydrated surface,the adsorption strength of oleic acid anion on mineral surface is greatly reduced due to the interaction between water molecules and metal site on mineral surface.Thus,spodumene and albite are hard to float without external activated ions in sodium oleate system.

Surface characteristics,collector adsorption,and flotation response of covellite in oxidizing environment

The surface characteristics,collector adsorption,and flotation response of covellite in the presence of NaClO and FeCl_(3) were investigated using micro-flotation tests,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry(TOF-SIMS),and contact angle measurements.The micro-flotation test results indicated that covellite was effectively inhibited by the presence of NaClO and FeCl_(3).However,the dosages of these depressants were large,and the conditioning time was long.The results of the XPS and TOF-SIMS analyses indicated that NaClO could oxidize the covellite surface and reduce the active sites of Cu.Oxidation products,including CuO and Cu(OH)_(2),were generated on the covellite surface.After the addition of FeCl_(3),the precipitation of iron hydroxide on the covellite surface increased the content of hydrophilic species on the mineral surface.Thus,the adsorption of ammonium dibutyl dithiophosphate on covellite surface was prevented,which reduced the floatability of the covellite.

Effect of roughness on wettability and floatability:Based on wetting film drainage between bubbles and solid surfaces

Wetting film thinning measurement was introduced to clarify the wettability and floatability of solid surfaces with varying roughness. The wettability was quantified using the contact angle measurement combined with the dynamic force microbalance test between solid surfaces and water droplets, while the floatability was investigated by the bubble-solid surface dynamic attachment observation and the induction time measurement. The results show that the water contact angles reduce(14.53°, 12.74°, and 6.71°)with the increase of glass surface roughness, while the water droplet-glass adhesion forces intensify(11.1, 19.1 and 19.2 μN) owing to the stable wetting film. The distortion of the contact surface and the Wenzel state are the causes. In contrast, the hydrophobized surfaces have the growing apparent contact angles(38.08°, 69.81°, and 81.01°), declining adhesion strength and shortening induction time(863, 352and 12 ms) along with the increasing surface roughness. The weak wettability and fine floatability on the rough hydrophobized surface is reflected in the fast wetting film drainage dynamics and three-phase contact formation, which may be attributed to the wetting film with short diameter on tiny rough nubs and the entrapped air in the grooves as a bridge between the bulk bubble and the solid surface.

Dynamic pore wetting and its effects on porous particle flotation:A review

The dynamic pore wetting plays an important role in the flotation of porous particle,such as coal,fly ash,gasification slag,etc.Water phase get into the pores and crevices on the surface and inside of the particles,creating a dense water layer that covers their surface and decreases their floatability.It is important to reduce the adverse impact of dynamic pore wetting on the flotation performance of porous particles.Thus,this review is to highlight the dynamic pore wetting behavior,and its role in the porous particle flotation as well as the proposed regulation methods to weaken the pore wetting.The characterization approaches of the dynamic pore wetting are discussed including the optical method for the capillary and the nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)method for porous particles.The surface tension and viscosity of liquid significantly affect the pore wetting degree of porous particles during the 60 min wetting process.Pre-wetting time adjustment,pore compression,pore filling,and hydrophobic modifications are introduced to decrease the wetting percentage of pores in porous particles and further improve their flotation performance.This critical review will provide some guidance for studying the dynamic wetting behavior of pores and enhancing the floatability of porous particles.

UV-Vis Spectrophotometry and AFM Observation of Diethyl Dithiophosphate Adsorption on Chalcopyrite at Varied pHs

Adsorption of diehtyl dithiophosphate on chalcopyrite has been studied using UV-visible spectroscopy at pH values of 4, 6, and 9. It was found that the adsorption of diethyl dithiophosphate decreased with the increasing pH treatments. The inhibition of diethyl dithiophosphate adsorption was found prominent in higher pH as a result of metal hydroxide species formation onto chalcopyrite surface. First order kinetic has been proposed and represented the adsorption mechanism. Flotation test using Hallimond tube has also been conducted and the results were consistent with the proposed mechanism. Furthermore, the morphological changes of the treated chalcopyrite were observed using Atomic Force Microscopy （AFM） showing the propensity of growth of islands, the new surfaces as products of the reaction. The hydrophobicity was measured in the form of force of adhesion. The results resembled with the approached mechanism.

Relative floatability as a criterion for evaluating the separation performance of phosphate from iron

This work was aimed to study the relative floatability of phosphate flotation by means of kinetic analysis.The relative floatability is important to determine how selectively the phosphate is separated from its impurities. The effects of pulp pH, solid content, reagents dosage(depressant, collector and co-collector) and conditioning time were investigated on the ratio of the modified rate constant of phosphate to the modified rate constant of iron(relative floatability). The results showed that a large dosage of depressant associated with a low value of collector resulted in a better relative floatability. Increasing the co-collector dosage, conditioning time and pH increased the relative floatability up to a certain value and thereafter resulted in diminishing the relative floatability. Meanwhile, the results indicated that increment of solid concentration increased the relative floatability in range investigated. It was also found that that maximum relative floatability(16.05) could be obtained in pulp pH, 9.32, solid percentage, 30,depressant dosage, 440 g/t, collector dosage, 560 g/t, co-collector dosage, 84.63 g/t and conditioning time,9.43 min.

Research on Effect of Magnetized Pulp on Coal Slime Flotation

Effect of magnetization on oxygen concentration, pH, surface zeta potential, and wet heat of flotation pulp were researched. The result shows that magnetization treatment can improve the floatablility of coal and increase the difference in wet heat among coal, refuse, and pyrite, which is favorable for slime flotation and for removing sulfur and ash from coal.

THEORETICAL FLOATABILITY CURVE OF COAL AND ITS MODEL

On the basis of the float-and-sink analysis and the timed-release analysis, a new theoretical floatability curve of coal has been advanced. By means of fitting to a lot of data, a model of theoretical floatability curve has been set up. The characteristics of curve and how to achieve standardization were discussed.

First-principles theory on electronic structure and floatability of spodumene

The band structure, density of states, Mulliken populations, and frontier orbital of spodumene crystal were calculated using the first-principles method based on the density functional theory（DFT） and further analyzed in detail. The calculation results reveal that the O in spodumene is the most active and easily links with H＋in the water, but the active Li is very low, so it is better to add activator to increase the concentrate grade and recovery rate of spodumene in the flotation process. Si–O bonds in spodumene crystal are mainly covalent, since the covalency of Al–O bonds is stronger than that of Li–O bonds,and minerals dissociate along the weakest Li–O bonds. In addition, the study of the frontier orbital indicates that both O and Si atoms have large contribution to the frontier orbital in the spodumene crystal. Oleate and dodecylamine are used as the collectors of spodumene. The results contribute to the understanding of crystal structures of spodumene, and can be used in guiding related practical applications.