Water-collecting behavior of nanostructured surfaces with special wettability

Dew is commonly formed even in dry regions, and we examined the suitability of surfaces with superhydrophilic patterns on a superhydrophobic background as a dew-harvesting system. Nanostructured surfaces with mixed wettability were fabricated by ZnO and TiO2 nanorods. The condensation properties were investigated by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), and the water-collecting function of the patterned surfaces in an artificial environment was confirmed. Condensation and water-collecting behavior were evaluated as a function of surface inclination angle and pattern shape. We examined the collecting efficiency among the different wettabilities at various inclination angles and observed the condensation behavior for various superhydrophilic shapes.