Dew catchers

Magdalena Helmer

Nature, 2010, vol. 463, issue 7281, 618-618

Abstract: How spiders' silk collects water The glistening of spiders' webs on a misty morning shows that they can gather water droplets from humid air with impressive efficiency. A study of the capture silk of the spider Uloborus walckenaerius reveals that this capability depends on a structural change that occurs on wetting. 'Wet-rebuilt' fibres are characterized by periodic spindle-knots made of random nanofibrils separated by joints made of aligned nanofibrils. This structure produces a surface energy gradient between the spindle-knots and the joints, and a difference in the pressure acting on drops in contact with either the spindle-knots or the joints. This ensures that water can continuously condense around the joints and is then transported to the spindle-knots, where it can accumulate in large hanging drops. An artificial silk mimicking the structure of wetted spider silk can also gather water drops from thin mist. This work could inform the design of functional surfaces that can collect fresh water from fog, or filter liquid aerosols in industrial processes.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/463618a

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