Bioinspired conical copper wire with gradient wettability for continuous and efficient fog collection

Abstract

Inspired by the efficient fog collection on cactus spines, conical copper wires with gradient wettability are fabricated through gradient electrochemical corrosion and subsequent gradient chemical modification. These dual-gradient copper wires' fog-collection ability is demonstrated to be higher than that of conical copper wires with pure hydrophobic surfaces or pure hydrophilic surfaces, and the underlying mechanism is also analyzed.

Keywords: bioinspired materials; conical copper wires; fog collection; gradient wettability.