Frost and ice have long been a problem in human society, which may result in disasters, like downed power lines, damaged crops, stalled aircraft, as well as the decreased performance of ships, wind turbines, and heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Understanding and control of the liquid freezing on solid mediums have a crucial impact on our daily life and industrial ...
Read more →Condensation of water vapor is ubiquitous in nature and of significant importance in various applications involved with phase change heat transfer, such as power generation, indoor environmental control, water harvesting, and desalination. In recent years, with the advancements in micro/nanofabrication, nanostructured superhydrophobic surfaces have attracted widespread attention due to the...
Read more →Despite extensive studies on flat homogeneous surfaces, recent advances in micro/nanofabrication and coating technologies have enabled the emergence of nanoengineered surfaces with heterogeneous topography and wettability. A fundamental understanding of the liquid wetting behaviors on these surfaces is important for various applications including thermal management, microfluidics, lab-on-a...
Read more →For almost all the water harvesting installations in desert lands (e.g., desalination, dewing system, adsorbent-based water collection, etc.), condensation is the ultimate means to capture water from moisture. The efficient condensation strategy is of critical importance for the arid regions to relieve water shortages. The fog-basking desert beetle with hydrophilic bumpy structures has lon...
Read more →The key component for efficient MD desalination is a suitable hydrophobic membrane with a low resistance to vapor transfer while keeping a high resistance to liquid wetting. These requirements pose a paradoxical issue to the membrane design – large membrane pore size leads to an enhanced distillation capacity, but it also increases the susceptibility to wetting. To date, it remains a chal...
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