Modified PDMS with inserted hydrophilic particles for water harvesting

Experimental study on interaction between wettability configuration and dewing efficiency of surfaces with a cavity array

“…A longer hydrophilic–hydrophobic interfacial boundary length causes volume growth acceleration for droplets located on the surface that has stronger hydrophilicity, by increasing the interfacial-crossing frequency of small droplets and the frequency of inter-droplet fusion. This claim has also be suggested by Sikarwar et al 25 and Wang et al , 26 who noticed that the inter-droplet collision and fusion is the dominant factor at the latter stage of droplet growth where water molecule diffusion under a moisture concentration gradient is not essential to droplet growth, and hydrophilic–hydrophobic junctions on hybrid materials for water harvesting, facilitate the rate of inter-droplet collision and indirectly raise the growth of droplets which lie on the more hydrophilic part of the material.…”

“…So the increasing interfacial boundary length that boosts the frequency of inter-droplet fusion will has a higher weighting than the hydrophilic area ratio at later stage of gas–liquid transition. According to Sikarwar et al 25 and Wang et al , 26 the inter-droplet collision and fusion have also been considered a primary factor that affects the volume increment of the dew according to long term droplet growth observations, furthermore, it also has been noticed that the hydrophilic–hydrophobic boundary promotes droplet movement and the frequency of inter-droplet collisions.…”

An Amphiphilic Surface with Improved Thermal Radiation for Water Harvesting

“…Figure 2 e illustrates the relationship between the surface texture and droplet mobility. The droplets coalesced on a smaller hydrophilic island can slide off earlier, as the surrounding hydrophobic grooves prevent the droplets from spreading [ 43 ]. Figure 2 d shows a hydrophobic area with mixed nanoparticles to improve its energy emission abilities [ 44 , 45 ].…”

Environmentally Responsive Materials for Building Envelopes: A Review on Manufacturing and Biomimicry-Based Approaches

“…Water can be extracted from the air’s moisture by approximately 1000 m 3 ·day −1 [ 53 ], representing a sustainable strategy for safe, decentralized access to drinkable water [ 54 ]. This atmospheric water is equivalent to about 10% of the Earth’s freshwater sources from lakes [ 55 ] and 15% of the total surface of available water resources in arid regions [ 56 ], representing a base technology nowadays for water collection [ 54 , 57 , 58 ].…”

“…Some well-known examples of species that have inspired biomimetic approaches that could develop water harvest systems recently are: different species of cactus [ 57 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ], spiders and spider silks [ 80 ], Triarrhena sacchariflora [ 81 ], pitcher plants [ 82 ], such as the Nepenthes alata [ 83 ], cicadas [ 74 ], and beetles [ 56 , 79 , 84 , 85 ]. According to Li et al [ 83 ], even if cactus and spider silk have been well-studied, their gradient surfaces can only move the harvested water droplets over a limited drop-sized distance, which leads to a slow speed and limited practical use.…”