The hydrophobic force for bubble–particle attachment in flotation – a brief review

A deep understanding of the bubble–particle attachment is critical to flotation science and engineering. Historically, the so called “hydrophobic force” has been widely accepted to be the reason for bubble–particle attachment although its origin is still under debate now. In this paper, a number of representative mechanisms for the origin of hydrophobic attractions are reviewed, with the main focus being on solid–solid systems. Then we highlight the recent advances in the hydrophobic force measurement between bubble and particle. Quantitative description of the hydrophobic force in bubble–particle system has been achieved recently. This review is closed with a brief conclusion and perspective discussion.