TY - JOUR
T1 - Asymmetric fibers for efficient fog harvesting
AU - Zhu, Pingan
AU - Chen, Rifei
AU - Zhou, Chunmei
AU - Tian, Ye
AU - Wang, Liqiu
N1 - Funding Information:
The financial support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (GRF 17204420, 17210319, 17204718, 17237316, and CRF C1018-17G) and City University of Hong Kong (9610502) is gratefully acknowledged. This work was also supported in part by the Zhejiang Provincial, Hangzhou Municipal, and Lin'an County Governments. We thank Michael Aizenberg and Joanna Aizenberg, Harvard University, for their constructive comments and discussions.
Funding Information:
The financial support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (GRF 17204420, 17210319, 17204718, 17237316, and CRF C1018-17G) and City University of Hong Kong (9610502) is gratefully acknowledged. This work was also supported in part by the Zhejiang Provincial, Hangzhou Municipal, and Lin’an County Governments. We thank Michael Aizenberg and Joanna Aizenberg, Harvard University, for their constructive comments and discussions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/7/1
Y1 - 2021/7/1
N2 - Access to sustainable, clean, and safe freshwater remains a global challenge. Harvesting atmospheric fog droplets with mesh collectors enables an environmental-friendly supply of good-quality freshwater. However, the functional outcomes of existing fibers used in collectors are not satisfactory, because of the inadequacies of conventional fiber design in engineering the surface microstructures and properties. By selectively combining functionalities and advantages of natural structures, we design fibers with synergistic asymmetry in their shape, surface roughness, and surface chemistry to simultaneously enhance fog deposition and water drainage. We draw inspiration from the rugged shape of Gunnera leaf to enhance fog deposition, the hierarchical surface roughness of Cotula leaf to lubricate the pathway for rapid water drainage, and the heterogeneous wettability of the Namib Desert beetle to promote the directional water transport in bridging fog deposition and water drainage. These fibers achieve a fog-harvesting rate of up to 8.2 × 10−3 g cm−2 s−1, a 7-time enhancement, and thus represent a step-change in addressing the grand challenge of global water shortage.
AB - Access to sustainable, clean, and safe freshwater remains a global challenge. Harvesting atmospheric fog droplets with mesh collectors enables an environmental-friendly supply of good-quality freshwater. However, the functional outcomes of existing fibers used in collectors are not satisfactory, because of the inadequacies of conventional fiber design in engineering the surface microstructures and properties. By selectively combining functionalities and advantages of natural structures, we design fibers with synergistic asymmetry in their shape, surface roughness, and surface chemistry to simultaneously enhance fog deposition and water drainage. We draw inspiration from the rugged shape of Gunnera leaf to enhance fog deposition, the hierarchical surface roughness of Cotula leaf to lubricate the pathway for rapid water drainage, and the heterogeneous wettability of the Namib Desert beetle to promote the directional water transport in bridging fog deposition and water drainage. These fibers achieve a fog-harvesting rate of up to 8.2 × 10−3 g cm−2 s−1, a 7-time enhancement, and thus represent a step-change in addressing the grand challenge of global water shortage.
KW - 3D printing
KW - Asymmetric fiber
KW - Fog harvesting
KW - Microfluidics
KW - Synergistic bioinspiration
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101503511&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2021.128944
DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2021.128944
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85101503511
SN - 1385-8947
VL - 415
JO - Chemical Engineering Journal
JF - Chemical Engineering Journal
M1 - 128944
ER -
