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A slippery rough surface (SRS) inspired by both pitcher plants and rice leaves outperforms state-of-the-art liquid-repellent surfaces in water harvesting applications. Many water-harvesting technologies are not as efficient, because when water is attracted to a hydrophilic surface, the water tends to form a sheet and clings to the surface, making it hard to remove.
The project's lead researcher believes the new technology could help alleviate the water scarcity issues in many regions across the globe. Shown here: The left panel is a directional SRS, the middle panel is a slippery liquid-infused porous surface and the right panel is a superhydrophobic surface. This image shows a comparison of water harvesting performance of SRS versus other state-of-the-art liquid-repellent surfaces.Image credit: Xianming Dai/Nan Sun/Jing Wang/Tak-Sing Wong /Penn State
