Clay is one of the most important mineral components in geological formations, and it is widely used in many industrial applications. One clay property, which is of key importance in many areas, e.g. mineral processing, agriculture, fundamental geologic understanding, hydrology, oil/water separation and multi-phase fluid flow, is clay wettability. However, clay wettability is a complex parameter which is determined by clay surface chemistry, in-situ aqueous and non-aqueous fluid chemistries, and geo-thermal conditions. Thus, a systematic review of published results on the wettability of six different clay minerals (kaolinite, montmorillonite, illite, mica, talc and pyrophyllite) is provided here, spanning from experimental studies to molecular dynamics simulations. This is integrated with a critical discussion to elucidate the origin of significant inconsistencies in the reported data. Finally, a range of conclusions is clearly established and a future outlook is given. This review will thus advance the understanding of clay wettability and provide guidance for the various applications discussed.

粘土是地质构造中最重要的矿物成分之一，在许多工业应用中被广泛使用。在许多领域（例如，矿物加工，农业，基本地质知识，水文学，油/水分离和多相流体流动）中至关重要的粘土特性是粘土的润湿性。但是，粘土的润湿性是一个复杂的参数，它由粘土表面化学，原位水和非水流体化学以及地热条件决定。因此，这里提供了对六种不同粘土矿物（高岭石，蒙脱石，伊利石，云母，滑石和叶蜡石）的润湿性的公开结果的系统综述，涵盖了从实验研究到分子动力学模拟的整个过程。这与批判性讨论相结合，以阐明所报告数据中显着不一致的根源。最后，明确得出了一系列结论，并给出了未来展望。因此，本综述将增进对粘土润湿性的理解，并为所讨论的各种应用提供指导。