Although numerous studies on the flotation activation of sphalerite by copper ion have been reported, but there are still some important problems to be studied further. Previous research works did not comprehensively investigate the effect of germanium content on the floatability of germanium-bearing sphalerite, and did not obtain direct evidence of the activation difference of copper ions on sphalerite and germanium-bearing sphalerite. In this paper, the effect of germanium content in sphalerite on the floatability of sphalerite was studied using micro flotation test. The difference mechanism between copper ion activated sphalerite and germanium-bearing sphalerite was studied using surface adsorption amount measurements, Zeta potential measurements, local electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The results show that the increase of germanium content reduces the floatability of sphalerite and reduces the adsorption of copper and xanthate. Especially after activation by copper ions, the downward trend is more obvious. The reason for the less adsorption of copper and xanthate on the surface of germanium-bearing sphalerite is that Ge occupies the exchange site of Cu and Zn.

尽管已有大量关于铜离子浮选活化闪锌矿的研究报道，但仍有一些重要问题有待进一步研究。以往的研究工作没有全面考察锗含量对含锗闪锌矿可浮性的影响，也没有得到铜离子对闪锌矿和含锗闪锌矿的活化差异的直接证据。本文通过微浮选试验研究了闪锌矿中锗含量对闪锌矿可浮性的影响。采用表面吸附量测量、Zeta电位测量、局部电化学阻抗谱分析、和飞行时间二次离子质谱。结果表明，锗含量的增加降低了闪锌矿的可浮性，降低了铜和黄药的吸附。尤其是铜离子活化后，下降趋势更为明显。含锗闪锌矿表面对铜和黄药的吸附较少的原因是Ge占据了Cu和Zn的交换位点。