The adsorption interaction of anionic sulfhydryl collectors on different PbS(1 0 0) surface sites

Computational ab initio methods were used to study the local adsorption interaction of diethyl dithiocarbamate ((CH3CH2)2NCS2−), ethyl xanthate (CH3CH2OCS2−) and ethyl trithiocarbonate (CH3CH2SCS2−) collectors with the PbS(1 0 0) surface using cluster models. The study showed that ethyl xanthate and ethyl trithiocarbonate adsorb monodentatively, and diethyl dithiocarbamate forms bidentate coordination on the lead atom site of galena. The interaction energy of diethyl dithiocarbamate is stronger than that of ethyl xanthate or ethyl trithiocarbonate. The interaction of the collectors was also detected on the sulfur atom site of the PbS(1 0 0) surface. The results provide information on the effect of the collector structure on the adsorption on the PbS surface.