A Bioinspired Aerodynamically Enhanced Fog Collector for High-Efficiency Water Collection and Agricultural Irrigation

Fog collection is a promising passive strategy to alleviate freshwater scarcity but conventional planar fog collectors often suffer from limited aerodynamic capture and slow surface renewal. Here, we propose a microchannel-enhanced scallop-inspired origami fog collector (ME-SOFC) that synergistically integrates a bioinspired origami ridge-valley architecture with hybrid wettability of superhydrophilic (SHL) microchannels on a superhydrophobic (SHB) surface. The 3D origami geometry induces near-surface air flow separation and vortices that decelerate incoming fog-laden air, suppress droplet escape, and increase droplet-surface collision probability. Meanwhile, laser-fabricated SHL microchannels act as directional “highways” that guide droplet convergence, promote rapid shedding, and maintain a high surface refresh rate of 38%, approximately four times that of a pure SHB planar collector. The ME-SOFC achieves a peak water collection rate of 1797.29 mg·cm–2·h–1, representing a 119% improvement over a planar fog collector and a 52% improvement over a microchannel-enhanced planar collector, while sustaining stable performance of 1600 mg·cm–2·h–1 over 10 h. Finally, a scalable 0.4 m2 ME-SOFC array was integrated into a microirrigation system that harvested 2641.71 g of water in 2 h and enabled 100% mung bean sprouts to achieve a 100% germination rate within 3 days. This scalable bioinspired design provides a practical route toward high-efficiency fog harvesting for sustainable agricultural irrigation in water-limited, fog-rich environments.