Hierarchical Surface Architecture of Plants as an Inspiration for Biomimetic Fog Collectors

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• 作者：M. A. K. Azad ; W. Barthlott ; K. Koch
• 刊名：Langmuir
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：December 8, 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：31
• 期：48
• 页码：13172-13179
• 全文大小：481K
• ISSN：1520-5827

文摘

Fog collectors can enable us to alleviate the water crisis in certain arid regions of the world. A continuous fog-collection cycle consisting of a persistent capture of fog droplets and their fast transport to the target is a prerequisite for developing an efficient fog collector. In regard to this topic, a biological superior design has been found in the hierarchical surface architecture of barley (Hordeum vulgare) awns. We demonstrate here the highly wettable (advancing contact angle 16掳 卤 2.7 and receding contact angle 9掳 卤 2.6) barbed (barb = conical structure) awn as a model to develop optimized fog collectors with a high fog-capturing capability, an effective water transport, and above all an efficient fog collection. We compare the fog-collection efficiency of the model sample with other plant samples naturally grown in foggy habitats that are supposed to be very efficient fog collectors. The model sample, consisting of dry hydrophilized awns (DH awns), is found to be about twice as efficient (fog-collection rate 563.7 卤 23.2 渭g/cm² over 10 min) as any other samples investigated under controlled experimental conditions. Finally, a design based on the hierarchical surface architecture of the model sample is proposed for the development of optimized biomimetic fog collectors.