The surface features of activated stibnite surface with copper or lead ion

Cu2+ and Pb2+ are widely used as activators for the flotation of stibnite. In this work, by the treatment of Cu2+ or Pb2+, the activation product and the thickness of activation layer on the stibnite surface were both investigated. Based on the flotation results, zeta potential analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study, it was found that Cu2+ was reduced to Cu+ at the stibnite surface and a layer of Cu2S was formed at the surface. While, a PbS layer presenting at the stibnite surface is responsible for the activation flotation of stibnite with Pb2+. Time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) analysis further implies that, when stibnite was activated with 5×10-5 mol/dm3 of CuSO4 or Pb(NO3)2, the thickness of Cu2S layer on the Cu-activated surface was close to 2.7 nm, while the thickness of PbS layer was about 1.8 nm on the Pb-activated surface.