Fog collection on a conical copper wire: effect of fog flow velocity and surface morphology

Abstract

The conical copper wires (CCWs) were subjected to alkali assistant oxidation or electrochemical deposition to form superhydrophilic wettability of ?4° with needle-like or leaf-like morphology, respectively. The superhydrophobic CCWs with water contact angles of ?156° were further constructed by modification with 1-dodecanethiol. The CCWs were used to study the effect of fog flow velocity and surface morphology on fog collection. With the fog flow velocity increased, the dominant factor for fog collection changed from fog capture to droplet motion. The surfaces with needle-like morphology displayed better fog capture ability while the surfaces with leaf-like morphology were more prone to driving droplet motion.