Improving water harvesting efficiency of fog collectors with electrospun random and aligned Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) fibers

Abstract

People worldwide suffer from poor access to water, with more than 3 billion lacking basic handwashing facilities and more than 2 billion without water services at their homes. This global problem needs new, cost-effective and efficient solutions that can be employed in places with scarce water sources. One potential sustainable solution is fog water collection, inspired by the way nature harvests water from humid air via condensation processes or from fog. Currently, a common medium to collect fog with the highest water collection efficiency is the Raschel mesh. By incorporating electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) fibers we improved water collecting efficiency of commercial Raschel mesh by more than 300%. We show a relatively simple to implement and inexpensive system that builds on top of already applied solutions and expands the capabilities of existing designs.