Effect of Mesh Wettability Modification on Atmospheric and Industrial Fog Harvesting

Freshwater shortage has been receiving considerable attention, and water harvesting is one of the potential solutions to this water crisis. Several researchers have tried to improve the harvesting capabilities by changing mesh wettability for atmospheric fog harvesting. However, the wettability effect on water harvesting from white plumes has not yet been investigated thoroughly, despite industrial cooling towers being considered as alternative water resources, because of the large amounts of fog plumes generated. In this study, surface wettability was modified with a robust and simple method for practical scaled-up applications, and we explored the influence of mesh wettability on atmospheric and industrial fog harvesting. In atmospheric fog harvesting, both superhydrophilic meshes (SHPMs), and superhydrophobic meshes (SHBMs) were found to improve the harvesting performance, with superhydrophobic treatments providing the best collection efficiency. In contrast, only superhydrophilicity improves the performance in industrial fog harvesting with flat mesh screens. We hypothesize that this research will be useful for mesh design, as it analyzes the influence of mesh wettability on the performance of water collection in both atmospheric and industrial water harvesting.