Efficient fog harvesting on metal surfaces with venation-inspired wetting patterns fabricated via laser-based maskless approach

The issue of global freshwater scarcity has become more pressing as climate change effects intensify. Fog harvesting has emerged as a sustainable and promising solution to address this problem, and wettability-patterned surfaces have shown potential in enhancing fog harvesting efficiency. In this study, two venation-like surface wetting patterns, i.e., the broadleaf and coniferous tree patterns, were directly fabricated on an aluminum alloy (AA6061) using a laser-assisted functionalization method, which offers greater flexibility in creating innovative patterns without the need for a mask. The superhydrophobic region featured low-roughness, isotropic, random nanostructures, while the superhydrophilic regions consisted of highly structured porous microchannels. The resulting surface patterns demonstrated a significant increase of up to 100 % in fog harvesting capability compared to the untreated surface. By adjusting the number of leaves, the fog harvesting efficiency of the venation-like patterns can be further improved while maintaining the same energy investment.

Automated summary

The issue of global freshwater scarcity has become increasingly urgent due to the intensification of climate change effects. Fog harvesting has emerged as a sustainable and promising solution, and wettability-patterned surfaces have shown potential in enhancing fog harvesting efficiency. In this study, venation-like surface wetting patterns were directly fabricated on an aluminum alloy using a laser-assisted functionalization method. The resulting patterns demonstrated a significant increase in fog harvesting capability compared to the untreated surface.