Rapid 3D Printing of Bioinspired Hybrid Structures for High-Efficiency Fog Collection and Water Transportation

Abstract

Nature often provides unique and elegant solutions for solving engineering problems. For example, cactus, desert grass, and <i>Nepenthes alata</i> have provided inspirations for the design of fog-collection and water-transportation devices. Here, a bioinspired hybrid fog collector consisting of cactus-inspired spines featuring longitudinal ridges on the surfaces and peristome-inspired bottom channels decorated with curved inclined arc-pitted grooves (C-IAPGs) is developed. Experimentally, the fog collector was fabricated by custom-made micro-continuous liquid interface printing with a resolution of 6.9 μm·pixel^-1 and a speed of up to 125 μm·s^-1. Characterization results show that the printed spines with four longitudinal ridges manifest the maximum fog-collection rate, and the bottom channel with C-IAPGs can efficiently transport the water droplets into the reservoir. This work is believed to be beneficial for developing next-generation fog-collection, water-transportation, and desalination devices.