Issue 27, 2025

Anti-clogging and anti-tangling fog harvesting with 3D-printed mesh-harp hybrids

Abstract

Fog harvesting is a promising method for freshwater collection in arid regions, but existing designs are inefficient. Mesh harvesters clog easily, diverting the fog stream, while fog harps suffer from elastocapillary wire tangling, creating large gaps for diminished performance. To practically bypass both the clogging and tangling issues, we develop 3D-printed mesh-harp hybrids that increase the fog harvesting efficiency by a factor of 2–8 compared to a pure mesh or fog harp. The optimal spacing of dilute cross-support features to enable anti-tangling for an untensioned mesh-harp hybrid is rationalized by an elastocapillary model.

Graphical abstract: Anti-clogging and anti-tangling fog harvesting with 3D-printed mesh-harp hybrids

Supplementary files

Transparent peer review

To support increased transparency, we offer authors the option to publish the peer review history alongside their article.

View this article’s peer review history

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 Apr 2025
Accepted
29 May 2025
First published
12 Jun 2025
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2025,13, 22039-22046

Anti-clogging and anti-tangling fog harvesting with 3D-printed mesh-harp hybrids

J. K. Kaindu, L. E. Olejnicki, B. S. Kennedy and J. B. Boreyko, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2025, 13, 22039 DOI: 10.1039/D5TA02686E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements