Water-collecting behavior of nanostructured surfaces with special wettability

Abstract

Dew is commonly formed even in dry regions, and we examined the suitability of surfaces with superhydrophilic patterns on a superhydrophobic background as a dew-harvesting system. Nanostructured surfaces with mixed wettability were fabricated by ZnO and TiO2 nanorods. The condensation properties were investigated by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), and the water-collecting function of the patterned surfaces in an artificial environment was confirmed. Condensation and water-collecting behavior were evaluated as a function of surface inclination angle and pattern shape. We examined the collecting efficiency among the different wettabilities at various inclination angles and observed the condensation behavior for various superhydrophilic shapes. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.