Issue 40, 2023

Research progress of bionic fog collection surfaces based on special structures from natural organisms

Abstract

With the increasing shortage of water resources, people are seeking more innovative ways to collect fog to meet the growing need for production and the demand for livelihood. It has been proven that fog collection is efficient for collecting water in dry but foggy areas. As a hot research topic in recent years, bionic surfaces with fog collection functions have attracted widespread attention in practical applications and basic research. By studying natural organisms and bionic surfaces, more avenues are provided for the development of fog collection devices. Firstly, starting from biological prototypes, this article explored the structural characteristics and fog collection mechanisms of natural organisms such as spider silk, desert beetles, cactus, Nepenthes and other animals and plants (Sarracenia, shorebird and wheat awn), revealing the fog collection mechanism of the natural organisms based on microstructures. Secondly, based on the theory of interfacial tension, we would delve into the fog collection function's theoretical basis and wetting model, expounding the fog collection mechanism from a theoretical perspective. Thirdly, a detailed introduction was given to prepare bionic surfaces and recently explore fog collection devices. For bionic surfaces of a single biological prototype, the fog collection efficiency is about 2000–4000 mg cm−2 h−1. For bionic surfaces of multiple biological prototypes, the fog collection efficiency reaches 7000 mg cm−2 h−1. Finally, a critical analysis was conducted on the current challenges and future developments, aiming to promote the next generation of fog collection devices from a scientific perspective from research to practical applications.

Graphical abstract: Research progress of bionic fog collection surfaces based on special structures from natural organisms

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
25 6月 2023
Accepted
02 9月 2023
First published
19 9月 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2023,13, 27839-27864

Research progress of bionic fog collection surfaces based on special structures from natural organisms

J. Yang, Y. Song, X. Zhang, Z. Zhang, G. Cheng, Y. Liu, G. Lv and J. Ding, RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 27839 DOI: 10.1039/D3RA04253G

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