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Desert Beetle‐Inspired Superwettable Patterned Surfaces for Water Harvesting
Author(s) -
Yu Zhenwei,
Yun Frank F.,
Wang Yanqin,
Yao Li,
Dou Shixue,
Liu Kesong,
Jiang Lei,
Wang Xiaolin
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201701403
Subject(s) - superhydrophilicity , materials science , rainwater harvesting , wetting , arid , nanotechnology , deserts and xeric shrublands , chemical engineering , environmental science , composite material , ecology , habitat , engineering , biology
With the impacts of climate change and impending crisis of clean drinking water, designing functional materials for water harvesting from fog with large water capacity has received much attention in recent years. Nature has evolved different strategies for surviving dry, arid, and xeric conditions. Nature is a school for human beings. In this contribution, inspired by the Stenocara beetle, superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic patterned surfaces are fabricated on the silica poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)‐coated superhydrophobic surfaces using a pulsed laser deposition approach with masks. The resultant samples with patterned wettability demonstrate water‐harvesting efficiency in comparison with the silica PDMS‐coated superhydrophobic surface and the Pt nanoparticles‐coated superhydrophilic surface. The maximum water‐harvesting efficiency can reach about 5.3 g cm −2 h −1 . Both the size and the percentage of the Pt‐coated superhydrophilic square regions on the patterned surface affect the condensation and coalescence of the water droplet, as well as the final water‐harvesting efficiency. The present water‐harvesting strategy should provide an avenue to alleviate the water crisis facing mankind in certain arid regions of the world.