Ura Daniel P, Knapczyk-Korczak Joanna, Szewczyk Piotr K, Sroczyk Ewa A, Busolo Tommaso, Marzec Mateusz M, Bernasik Andrzej, Kar-Narayan Sohini, Stachewicz Urszula
Faculty of Metals Engineering and Industrial Computer Science, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Kraków, Poland.
Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, CB3 0FS Cambridge, United Kingdom.
ACS Nano. 2021 May 25;15(5):8848-8859. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.1c01437. Epub 2021 Apr 26.
Access to clean water is a global challenge, and fog collectors are a promising solution. Polycarbonate (PC) fibers have been used in fog collectors but with limited efficiency. In this study, we show that controlling voltage polarity and humidity during the electrospinning of PC fibers improves their surface properties for water collection capability. We experimentally measured the effect of both the surface morphology and the chemistry of PC fiber on their surface potential and mechanical properties in relation to the water collection efficiency from fog. PC fibers produced at high humidity and with negative voltage polarity show a superior water collection rate combined with the highest tensile strength. We proved that electric potential on surface and morphology are crucial, as often designed by nature, for enhancing the water collection capabilities the single-step production of fibers without any postprocessing needs.
获得清洁水是一项全球性挑战，而雾收集器是一个有前景的解决方案。聚碳酸酯（PC）纤维已被用于雾收集器，但效率有限。在本研究中，我们表明在PC纤维静电纺丝过程中控制电压极性和湿度可改善其表面性质，以提高集水能力。我们通过实验测量了PC纤维的表面形态和化学性质对其表面电位和机械性能的影响，以及这些因素与雾中集水效率的关系。在高湿度和负电压极性条件下生产的PC纤维显示出更高的集水率，同时具有最高的拉伸强度。我们证明，表面电位和形态对于提高集水能力至关重要，这通常是自然界的设计方式，并且无需任何后处理即可一步生产纤维。
