TY - JOUR
T1 - Facile and large-scale fabrication of a cactus-inspired continuous fog collector
AU - Cao, Moyuan
AU - Ju, Jie
AU - Li, Kan
AU - Dou, Shixue
AU - Liu, Kesong
AU - Jiang, Lei
PY - 2014/6/4
Y1 - 2014/6/4
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - cactus
KW - conical shapes
KW - fog collection
KW - micro-tip arrays
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84902009736&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/adfm.201303661
DO - 10.1002/adfm.201303661
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84902009736
SN - 1616-301X
VL - 24
SP - 3235
EP - 3240
JO - Advanced Functional Materials
JF - Advanced Functional Materials
IS - 21
ER -