Nature-Inspired Surface Engineering for Efficient Atmospheric Water Harvesting

Atmospheric water harvesting is a sustainable solutionto globalwater shortage, which requires high efficiency, high durability, lowcost, and environmentally friendly water collectors. In this paper,we report a novel water collector design based on a nature-inspiredhybrid superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic aluminum surface. The surfaceis fabricated by combining laser and chemical treatments. We achievea 163 & DEG; contrast in contact angles between the superhydrophilicpattern and the superhydrophobic background. Such a unique superhydrophilic/superhydrophobiccombination presents a self-pumped mechanism, providing the hybridcollector with highly efficient water harvesting performance. Basedon simulations and experimental measurements, the water harvestingrate of the repeating units of the pattern was optimized, and thecorresponding hybrid collector achieves a water harvesting rate of0.85 kg m(-2) h(-1). Additionally,our hybrid collector also exhibits good stability, flexibility, aswell as thermal conductivity and hence shows great potential for practicalapplication. Aluminum foil can be recycledto fabricate an efficientsuperhydrophilic/superhydrophobic hybrid water collector through combininglaser and chemical treatments.

Automated summary

This paper reports a novel water collector design based on a nature-inspired hybrid superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic aluminum surface, which can provide a sustainable solution to global water shortage. The surface, fabricated by combining laser and chemical treatments, achieves a 163° contrast in contact angles between the superhydrophilic pattern and the superhydrophobic background. This unique superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic combination presents a self-pumped mechanism, providing the hybrid collector with highly efficient water harvesting performance. Based on simulations and experimental measurements, the water harvesting rate of the repeating units of the pattern was optimized, and the corresponding hybrid collector achieves a water harvesting rate of 0.85 kg m(-2) h(-1). Additionally, the hybrid collector exhibits good stability, flexibility, as well as thermal conductivity, showing great potential for practical application.