Issue 33, 2019

Hierarchical fibers for water collection inspired by spider silk

Abstract

Water scarcity plagues two-thirds of the global population. Interestingly, researchers have found that spider silk exhibits excellent water-collection ability owing to its unique structure and chemical components. Based on this characteristic, numerous bioinspired fibers have been fabricated for water collection. Herein, we review the water-collection process for spider silk and recent vital advances in bioinspired fibriform materials, focusing on the water-collection mechanisms of spindle-knot fibers, which exhibit directional droplet transport, hanging mechanism and hanging ability. Also, we evaluated their water-collection abilities on a micro- and macro-scale, which gave a better view for the design of bioinspired water-collection materials. These advances enable the significant use of bioinspired fibers in water collection, which may be applied in several other fields, such as directional transport, tissue engineering, oil–water separation and biosensors.

Graphical abstract: Hierarchical fibers for water collection inspired by spider silk

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
13 Mey 2019
Accepted
19 Jul 2019
First published
22 Jul 2019

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 15448-15463

Hierarchical fibers for water collection inspired by spider silk

W. Chen and Z. Guo, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 15448 DOI: 10.1039/C9NR04065J

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