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Biomimetic engineering for water harvesting: 3D printed solutions for arid regions
Apsey Apsey,
Donald Hill 
,
Shirin Alexander
,
Shirin Alexander
RSC Applied Interfaces
Swansea University Authors:
Apsey Apsey, Donald Hill , Shirin Alexander
-
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© 2026 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence.
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DOI (Published version): 10.1039/d5lf00222b
Abstract
Approximately one third of the Earth's surface has a climate that is currently considered arid, which in 2020 affected around 2.4 billion people. This extreme condition leads to challenges accessing water for agriculture, hygiene, and sanitation, amongst a myriad of others. Over millions of yea...
| Published in: | RSC Applied Interfaces |
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| ISSN: | 2755-3701 |
| Published: |
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
2026
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71536 |
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2026-03-04T14:36:07Z |
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2026-04-25T06:50:06Z |
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2026-04-24T16:26:59.7986019 v2 71536 2026-03-04 Biomimetic engineering for water harvesting: 3D printed solutions for arid regions 378aee517395220e4f9ae82567d656b2 Apsey Apsey Apsey Apsey true false d542c5f6c548c25ef4ab7cb51ee71650 0000-0002-3457-5895 Donald Hill Donald Hill true false 0773cc55f7caf77817be08806b8b7497 0000-0002-4404-0026 Shirin Alexander Shirin Alexander true false 2026-03-04 Approximately one third of the Earth's surface has a climate that is currently considered arid, which in 2020 affected around 2.4 billion people. This extreme condition leads to challenges accessing water for agriculture, hygiene, and sanitation, amongst a myriad of others. Over millions of years, nature has evolved ingenious strategies for survival in such environments. One notable example is the Namib desert tenebrionid beetle, which collects water from fog using its elytra—a shell featuring a pattern of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. Inspired by this natural mechanism, we have studied 3D-printed green superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic hybrid surfaces and evaluated their water collection performance in a controlled climate chamber, which was designed to simulate arid conditions. The coated surfaces demonstrated a 4–5 fold improvement in water collection efficiency compared to uncoated samples. Both spiked and beetle-inspired designs were tested, revealing that larger spikes or bumps collected nearly twice as much water. Beetle-like channel structures also proved to be highly effective designs. Overall, it was observed that hybrid coatings outperformed fully hydrophilic or hydrophobic surfaces, suggesting that the increased complexity does indeed lead to greater water harvesting efficacy. These findings offer valuable insights into the design and engineering of efficient and sustainable water harvesting technologies for arid regions. Journal Article RSC Applied Interfaces 0 Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) 2755-3701 4 3 2026 2026-03-04 10.1039/d5lf00222b COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Other Financial support was provided by the EPSRC DTP (EP/ R51312X/1) and Salts Healthcare. 2026-04-24T16:26:59.7986019 2026-03-04T14:08:18.1119513 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Chemical Engineering Apsey Apsey 1 Donald Hill 0000-0002-3457-5895 2 Shirin Alexander 0000-0002-4404-0026 3 71536__36569__b5167cce58f741ce80107e1689a2d320.pdf 71536.VoR.pdf 2026-04-23T11:39:08.3276663 Output 1100498 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2026 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| title |
Biomimetic engineering for water harvesting: 3D printed solutions for arid regions |
| spellingShingle |
Biomimetic engineering for water harvesting: 3D printed solutions for arid regions Apsey Apsey Donald Hill Shirin Alexander |
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Biomimetic engineering for water harvesting: 3D printed solutions for arid regions |
| title_full |
Biomimetic engineering for water harvesting: 3D printed solutions for arid regions |
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Biomimetic engineering for water harvesting: 3D printed solutions for arid regions |
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Biomimetic engineering for water harvesting: 3D printed solutions for arid regions |
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Biomimetic engineering for water harvesting: 3D printed solutions for arid regions |
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378aee517395220e4f9ae82567d656b2 d542c5f6c548c25ef4ab7cb51ee71650 0773cc55f7caf77817be08806b8b7497 |
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Apsey Apsey Donald Hill Shirin Alexander |
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Apsey Apsey Donald Hill Shirin Alexander |
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RSC Applied Interfaces |
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2755-3701 |
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10.1039/d5lf00222b |
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Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) |
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Approximately one third of the Earth's surface has a climate that is currently considered arid, which in 2020 affected around 2.4 billion people. This extreme condition leads to challenges accessing water for agriculture, hygiene, and sanitation, amongst a myriad of others. Over millions of years, nature has evolved ingenious strategies for survival in such environments. One notable example is the Namib desert tenebrionid beetle, which collects water from fog using its elytra—a shell featuring a pattern of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. Inspired by this natural mechanism, we have studied 3D-printed green superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic hybrid surfaces and evaluated their water collection performance in a controlled climate chamber, which was designed to simulate arid conditions. The coated surfaces demonstrated a 4–5 fold improvement in water collection efficiency compared to uncoated samples. Both spiked and beetle-inspired designs were tested, revealing that larger spikes or bumps collected nearly twice as much water. Beetle-like channel structures also proved to be highly effective designs. Overall, it was observed that hybrid coatings outperformed fully hydrophilic or hydrophobic surfaces, suggesting that the increased complexity does indeed lead to greater water harvesting efficacy. These findings offer valuable insights into the design and engineering of efficient and sustainable water harvesting technologies for arid regions. |
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2026-03-04T06:29:11Z |
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