Science Daily August 16, 2023
An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Germany, USA – UC Berkeley) has demonstrated a rationally designed system that can capture fog at high efficiency while simultaneously degrading organic pollutants. Their design consists of a wire mesh coated with anatase titanium dioxide nanoparticles embedded in a polymer matrix. Once activated by sunlight, the photoactive titanium dioxide layer decomposed organic molecules such as diesel, even in the absence of sunlight. The wettability of the mesh surface was engineered to enhance water extraction. In outdoor tests, the device could maintain a good fog harvesting performance as well as a water treatment efficiency of >85%. According to the researchers the continuous production of water with passive purification they demonstrated provides an energy-free solution to address water scarcity… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Outdoor demonstration of fog harvesting and treatment on sunny and cloudy days. Credit: Nature Sustainability (2023), August 17, 2023Â