Zeta Potential of Molybdenite to Fine Sizes

The zeta potential () of molybdenite at fine sizes has been obtained in the present work, this determination was carried out with electroacoustic equipment, where the variation of this electrokinetic parameter with respect to pH was obtained. In relation to studies carried out, the obtained results confirm that in the molybdenite particles, as the face / edge ratio decreases the zeta potential () increases; same variation of increase occurs as the pH increases; being always negative, with values between -65 to -80 mV for the tested range. The magnitude of these values and the increase that it suffers when increasing the pH, is due to the fact that when you have an increasingly fine grinding of the particles, a larger number of edges is generated, and this is where the load originates in the surface of the molybdenite particles, from the oxygenated sites on said edges, causing the formation of molybdate ions (MoO4-2) and hydromolybdates (HMoO4-1).