Silica monolayer isolation of electrodeposited SERS substrate and online probing of molecule adsorption onto mineral microparticles in relation to flotation

Abstract

In the minerals processing industry, the surface chemistry of mineral particles and its real-time detection can significantly enhance process performance, and ultimately leading to automotive and intelligent control. The adsorption of collector molecule onto bulk mineral specimens could be investigated with the help of shell-isolated nanoparticle enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS). However, this method is unsuitable for the online detection of particles fluid consisted of micro-sized chalcocite that encountered in industrial production processes. In this work, a novel strategy of shell-isolated nanoparticles synthesis by electrodeposition of gold nanoparticles film and isolation of this film with crosslinked silica monolayer was proposed. The adsorption of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), a typical flotation collector, onto a copper sulfide mineral, chalcocite was measured in-situ with the help of such a SERS substrate. Enhancement factors of 106–107 was calculated based on an idealized model. Furthermore, we discussed the stability of the silica isolation monolayer under high-power laser irradiation.