Fog Collection on Bio-inspired Topological Alloy Net with Micro/Nanostructures

With the scarcity of freshwater resources, fog collection as one of the effective methods to solve this issue has attracted widespread concern. Inspired by several natural creatures with the capability to collect water from fog, the bio-inspired water-harvesting materials have aroused considerable attention and been widely developed. Inspired by the directional water droplets transportation to the apex on both Shorebirds beaks and the wheat awns, the bio-inspired topological alloy net with the V-shaped asymmetric geometry in its mesh was designed for fog collecting. Then micro/nano-hierarchical structures were modified on the surface of netting wire via cathodic electrodeposition method. Thus the bio-inspired topological alloy net with micro/nanostructures (BTAN-MN) was fabricated successfully. Through the integration of topological geometry and surface microstructure, not only the water collection rate is improved by efficient drainage along the designated pathways, but also the issue of mesh clogging is...