Zhu Hai, Guo Zhiguang, Liu Weimin
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Centre for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, People's Republic of China.
Chem Commun (Camb). 2016 Mar 11;52(20):3863-79. doi: 10.1039/c5cc09867j. Epub 2016 Feb 22.
Nowadays, water shortage is a severe issue all over the world, especially in some arid and undeveloped areas. Interestingly, a variety of natural creatures can collect water from fog, which can provide a source of inspiration to develop novel and functional water-collecting materials. Recently, as an increasingly hot research topic, bioinspired materials with the water collection ability have captured vast scientific attention in both practical applications and fundamental research studies. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of water collection in various natural creatures and present the fabrications, functions, applications, and new developments of bioinspired materials in recent years. The theoretical basis related to the phenomenon of water collection containing wetting behaviors and water droplet transportations is described in the beginning, i.e., the Young's equation, Wenzel model, Cassie model, surface energy gradient model and Laplace pressure equation. Then, the water collection mechanisms of three typical and widely researched natural animals and plants are discussed and their corresponding bioinspired materials are simultaneously detailed, which are cactus, spider, and desert beetles, respectively. This is followed by introducing another eight animals and plants (butterfly, shore birds, wheat awns, green bristlegrass, the Cotula fallax plant, Namib grass, green tree frogs and Australian desert lizards) that are rarely reported, exhibiting water collection properties or similar water droplet transportation. Finally, conclusions and outlook concerning the future development of bioinspired fog-collecting materials are presented.
如今，水资源短缺是全球面临的一个严峻问题，尤其是在一些干旱和不发达地区。有趣的是，各种天然生物能够从雾气中收集水分，这可为开发新型功能性集水材料提供灵感来源。近年来，具有集水能力的仿生材料作为一个日益热门的研究课题，在实际应用和基础研究中都引起了广泛的科学关注。在这篇综述中，我们总结了各种天然生物的集水机制，并介绍了近年来仿生材料的制备、功能、应用及新进展。文章开篇阐述了与集水现象相关的理论基础，包括润湿行为和水滴传输，即杨氏方程、文泽尔模型、卡西模型、表面能梯度模型和拉普拉斯压力方程。接着，讨论了三种典型且研究广泛的天然动植物的集水机制，并同时详细介绍了它们相应的仿生材料，分别是仙人掌、蜘蛛和沙漠甲虫。随后，介绍了另外八种鲜有报道但具有集水特性或类似水滴传输能力的动植物（蝴蝶、滨鸟、麦芒、狗尾草、淡黄香青、纳米比亚草、绿树蛙和澳大利亚沙漠蜥蜴）。最后，给出了关于仿生集雾材料未来发展的结论与展望。
