A specially developed yarn for capturing fog - inspired by the water-collecting abilities of desert beetles and the webs of spiders - has been developed by scientists at Beihang University in Beijing, China.

The double-stranded yarn with alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties is produced using electrospinning and twisting techniques. It is designed for high-efficiency fog collection and helps address the critical need for sustainable water sources.

The team say that the material they have engineered mimics nature's water-harvesting mechanisms, with the hydrophobic sections promoting rapid water droplet accumulation, while the hydrophilic sections enhance transport of these droplets, allowing for faster coalescence and collection. When tested in a controlled fog environment, the yarn demonstrated a significant improvement in water collection efficiency over homogeneous yarns.

The scientists say the innovation presents a scalable solution, offering high performance in fog-rich environments, and could be vital for improving water access in drought-prone regions.

Professor Yong Zhao from Beihang University said, "This advancement shows how biomimicry can drive highly efficient and sustainable solutions to global challenges such as water scarcity. The alternating wettability design emulates nature's precision, significantly boosting fog collection performance."

The researchers, whose discovery features in the Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, say this breakthrough paves the way for future innovations in water-harvesting technologies, with the potential to enhance the sustainability of atmospheric water collection systems worldwide.