Janus membrane with novel directional water transport capacity for efficient atmospheric water capture

Abstract

Fresh water scarcity has become a crisis affecting human survival and development. Atmospheric water capture with remarkable advantages such as energy-independence and low-cost is supposed to be a promising way to address the problem. Herein, a facile strategy is presented to design a membrane material with efficient atmospheric water capture capacity and high practical significancy. A hybrid Janus membrane with anisotropic wettability and morphology is fabricated by integrating electrospinning and in situ surface oxidation methods. Taking advantage of the anisotropic wettability and strong force provided by directional wicking to draw water drops from a hydrophobic to a hydrophilic layer, the Janus membrane exhibits novel directional water droplet transport and possesses efficient and excellent atmospheric water capture capacity. Janus membrane with larger pores in the hydrophobic layer shows higher atmospheric water capture capacity than that with smaller pores. Furthermore, the hybrid Janus membrane is successfully implemented in soil water retention in the plant cultivation process. This work provides an insight into the facile design of the Janus membrane for fresh water capture, which is important to extend its practical applications.