Bioinspired G. dalenii Surface for Condensation and Fog Harvesting applications

In this work we study the condensation and fog harvesting performance of a natural/fixated G. dalenii leaf and those of a replicated G. dalenii sample. Microstructure surface replication by our soft lithography procedure was found to be remarkable. In addition, both the mechanisms of nucleation and the dynamics of droplet growth showed a remarkable agreement within the standard deviation both in the presence and absence of non-condensable gases when comparing fixated and replicated G. dalenii samples. On the other hand, up to 200% greater fog harvesting performance was reported on the replicated G. dalenii sample when compared to the flat control one. The greater fog harvesting performance on the replicated sample was attributed to the presence of microstructures. A drop energy of adhesion analysis supports the better fog harvesting performance of the replicated sample. We conclude on the excellent surface structure, condensation mechanisms and fog harvesting performance replication by our soft lithography procedure.