Facile and large-scale fabrication of a cactus-inspired continuous fog collector

Moyuan Cao, Jie Ju, Kan Li, Shixue Dou, Kesong Liu, Lei Jiang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

268 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Although clean drinking water is a basic human need, freshwater scarcity has been identified as a major global problem of the 21st century. Nature has long served as a source of inspiration for human beings to develop new technology. The cactus in the desert possesses a multifunctional integrated fog collection system originating from the cooperation of a Laplace pressure gradient and the wettability difference. In this contribution, inspired by the cactus, an artificial fog collector on a large scale is first fabricated through integrating cactus spine-like hydrophobic conical micro-tip arrays with the hydrophilic cotton matrix. The novel cactus-inspired fog collector can spontaneously and continuously collect, transport, and preserve fog water, demonstrating high fog collection efficiency and promising applications in the regions with drinking water scarcity. Furthermore, the present approach is simple, time-saving and cost-effective, which provides a potential device and new idea to solve the global water crisis. Inspired by the fog-harvesting behavior of the cactus, a novel fog collector in large scale is first fabricated through integrating cactus spine-like hydrophobic conical micro-tip arrays with a hydrophilic cotton matrix, which can spontaneously and continuously collect, transport, and preserve fog water.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3235-3240
Number of pages6
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume24
Issue number21
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Jun 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • cactus
  • conical shapes
  • fog collection
  • micro-tip arrays

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