Biomimetic fog harvesting surface by photo-induced micro-patterning of zinc-oxide silver hierarchical nanostructures

摘要

As water scarcity has become a major global problem, fog-harvesting technologies are considered an effective sustainable solution for water resources. Here, we report a novel approach to the fog-harvesting technology using zinc oxide-silver hierarchical nanostructures to mimic the Stenocara beetle's back. Vertically aligned zinc oxide nanowires are first fabricated by a cost-effective and scalable hydrothermal method to produce a superhydrophilic surface. Silver nanoparticles are then selectively synthesized by an additional photo-induced synthetic process on the zinc oxide nanowire surfaces to form a hydrophobic surface using the hierarchical nanostructures. The fog-harvesting performance was investigated using an artificial fog flow and by measuring the amount of harvested water for efficient fog harvesting. On the superhydrophilic surface, although the water droplets immediately were captured, they formed a puddle at the bottom of the surface due to the high adhesion between water and the surface. In contrast, on the hydrophobic surface, the capturing rate was very low even though the water droplets easily rolled off the surface. Compared to the non-patterned surface, the captured water film on the patterned hydrophilic region grew rapidly into a spherical shape and separated from the surface due to the surrounding hydrophobic regions. As a result, the patterned surface with 0.5 mm pattern size afforded a higher fog collection rate of 1233 mg/h than those of the superhydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces of 1105 mg/h and 879 mg/h respectively.