Open AccessBiomimetic Antigravity Water Transport and Remote Harvesting Powered by Sunlight
Author(s) -
Geng Hongya,
Lv Cunjing,
Wu Mingmao,
Ma Hongyun,
Cheng Huhu,
Li Chun,
Yuan Jiayin,
Qu Liangti
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
global challenges
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2056-6646
DOI - 10.1002/gch2.202000043
Subject(s) - water transport , environmental science , evaporator , solar energy , materials science , water flow , environmental engineering , mechanical engineering , engineering , electrical engineering , heat exchanger
Antigravity water transport plays important roles in various applications ranging from agriculture, industry, and environmental engineering. In natural trees, ubiquitous water‐flow over 100 m high from roots through the hierarchical xylem to leaves is driven by sunlight‐powered continuous evaporation and the negative pressure. Inspired by natural trees, herein an artificial trunk‐leaf system is built up to structurally mimic natural trees for a continuous antigravity water delivery. The artificial tree consists of directional microchannels for antigravity water transport, and a top leaf‐like hybrid hydrogel that are acts as continuous solar steam evaporator, plus a purposely engineered steam collector. It is found that continuous uniform microchannels of acetylated chitin optimize and enhance capillary rise (≈37 cm at 300 min) and reduce vertical water transport resistance. A remote water harvesting, and purification is performed with a high rate of 1.6 kg m −2 h −1 and 184 cm in height under 1 sun irradiation and the collection efficiency up to 100% by evaporative cooling technique. It is envisioned that the basic design principles underlying the artificial tree can be used to transform solar energy into potential energy.