TY - JOUR
T1 - Beetle and cactus-inspired surface endows continuous and directional droplet jumping for efficient water harvesting
AU - Wang, Xikui
AU - Zeng, Jia
AU - Li, Jing
AU - Yu, Xinquan
AU - Wang, Zuankai
AU - Zhang, Youfa
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, no. 51671055 and 52071076), the Research Fund for High-Level Talents of Pingdingshan University (PXY-BSQD-202014), National Project Cultivation Fund of Pingdingshan University (PXY-PYJJ-202105) and Key Research Project of Institutions of Higher Education in Henan Province (21A430029).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
PY - 2021/1/21
Y1 - 2021/1/21
N2 - Efficient water harvesting from vapor has attracted increasing attention in recent years owing to its potential to address the daunting water crisis. However, a fundamental challenge limiting the water collection efficiency from vapor is the intrinsic trade-off between fast droplet nucleation and efficient droplet removal, both of which have distinctively opposite requirements in surface chemistry and morphology. Inspired by the elegant topography features and functions of desert beetles and cactus thorns, herein, we designed a novel hybrid wetting surface consisting of wedge-shaped patterns, in which the patterns mimic the bumpy back of the desert beetle for enhanced water nucleation, whereas the wedge-shaped topography renders unconventional oblique droplet jumping and long-range transport. The synergistic cooperation of these two effects effectively decouples the inherent trade-off, leading to more than an 11 times increase in water harvesting compared to that of a superhydrophobic surface. Thus, our findings have extensive applications in water harvesting, power generation and desalination.
AB - Efficient water harvesting from vapor has attracted increasing attention in recent years owing to its potential to address the daunting water crisis. However, a fundamental challenge limiting the water collection efficiency from vapor is the intrinsic trade-off between fast droplet nucleation and efficient droplet removal, both of which have distinctively opposite requirements in surface chemistry and morphology. Inspired by the elegant topography features and functions of desert beetles and cactus thorns, herein, we designed a novel hybrid wetting surface consisting of wedge-shaped patterns, in which the patterns mimic the bumpy back of the desert beetle for enhanced water nucleation, whereas the wedge-shaped topography renders unconventional oblique droplet jumping and long-range transport. The synergistic cooperation of these two effects effectively decouples the inherent trade-off, leading to more than an 11 times increase in water harvesting compared to that of a superhydrophobic surface. Thus, our findings have extensive applications in water harvesting, power generation and desalination.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100038503&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/d0ta10123k
DO - 10.1039/d0ta10123k
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85100038503
SN - 2050-7488
VL - 9
SP - 1507
EP - 1516
JO - Journal of Materials Chemistry A
JF - Journal of Materials Chemistry A
IS - 3
ER -