Hybrid superhydrophobic/hydrophilic patterns deposited on glass by laser-induced forward transfer method for efficient water harvesting

In recent years, the combination of factors such as growing population and global climate change has resulted in freshwater shortages. Therefore, water harvesting from the atmospheric fog in order to produce freshwater supply inspired by nature has received much attention. The water harvesting capability of the creatures is significantly based on the combination of both wettability states on their surfaces. In this study, a facile physicochemical hybrid method was used for the fabrication of glass surfaces with contrast wettability. First, fractal and regular repeated geometric patterns were deposited on a glass substrate using brass sheet as donor material by laser induced forward transfer (LIFT) method. Subsequently, stearic acid (SA) treatment was used to convert the wettability of the superhydrophilic (SHL) deposited patterns on glass to superhydrophobic. In order to investigate the effect of the shape of designed patterns on glass surfaces in the water harvesting efficiency, the amount of collected water for a period of time from untreated hydrophilic (HL) glass, superhydrophobic (SHB) glass and hybrid superhydrophobic/hydrophilic (SHB-HL) surfaces were measured. The obtained results indicate that the hybrid of superhydrophobic and hydrophilic regions and selecting the optimal pattern can improve the water harvesting performance by up to 300%. (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In recent years, freshwater shortages caused by factors such as population growth and global climate change have become a major concern. Inspired by nature, water harvesting from atmospheric fog has gained significant attention as a solution to the freshwater supply problem. This study presents a facile physicochemical hybrid method to create glass surfaces with contrast wettability. The results demonstrate that the hybridization of superhydrophobic and hydrophilic regions, along with optimized pattern selection, can greatly enhance water harvesting performance.