The large amount of harmful particles in coal dust not only pollutes the production environment, affects the production efficiency and resource utilization of enterprises, but also poses a risk to human health. Effectively controlling coal dust is of great significance to clean production. Water-based dust suppressants are extensively employed to mitigate coal dust. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the water-based dust suppression materials for coal dust control. According to the difference of mechanism, the dust suppressants are divided into wetting type, hygroscopic coalescence type, cohesive agglomeration type, and composite type. The evaluation methods for dust suppressants key properties such as wettability, permeability, moisture absorption and water retention, and consolidation are summarized. The review results show that coal dust suppressants are no longer limited to a single dust suppression function. For example, it is necessary to develop multi-functional coal suppressants to meet the needs for synergistic suppression both coal dust and coal spontaneous combustion. Driven by the concept of green, low-carbon and sustainable development, attention should be paid to the development of bio-based environmentally friendly coal dust suppressants. In addition, the evaluation method system for the key performance of water-based dust suppressants should also be improved, and further research is necessary.

Spraying water-based materials on the coal surface is a common means of coal dust suppression. There are obvious dynamic wetting behaviors during droplets impacting coal. To explore the spreading behavior and wetting characteristics of anionic surfactant droplets on bituminous coal, three anionic surfactants, which are sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDDS), and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), were used for the droplet impact experiment and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The results show that the addition of anionic surfactants can promote the wetting behavior of the droplet, and the difference between the head group and the tail group of the surfactant molecules can affect the wettability of the droplet. The dimensionless spreading coefficient shows the rule of SDBS > SDS > SDDS. When the concentration does not reach critical micelle concentration (CMC), the surface tension decreases and the dimensionless spreading coefficient of droplets increases with the increase of concentration. When the droplet concentration reaches the CMC, surface tension is no longer an effective indicator to evaluate the wettability of droplets. The dimensionless spreading coefficient can effectively evaluate the macroscopic spreading wetting behavior of droplets, and it is better than the surface tension. MD simulation results show that the interaction between anionic surfactants and coal molecules can affect the adsorption behavior, and the interaction energy and adhesion work are shown as the rule of SDBS < SDS < SDDS. The results of MD simulation and the impact experiment show that the intermolecular adsorption behavior has a significant influence on the spreading process. The results of MD simulation further explain the results of the droplet impact experiment.