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A bioinspired hierarchical architecture for the high-yield recovery of industrial water vapour

Nature Water (2026) Cite this article

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Abstract

Industrial cooling towers discharge substantial amounts of water vapour, and this remains a largely untapped resource. Here, inspired by termite mound thermoregulation, we present a four-tier water-recovery architecture to bridge this gap. The primary tier utilizes a heterostructured microsphere coating to achieve a capillary-driven nucleation rate of 33.6 g m−2 min−1, while enabling 1.7 °C of radiative sub-dewpoint cooling via gradient-refractive index spines. The secondary tier integrates an inverted-pyramid composite that acts as a mechanical shield to enlarge the heat-transfer area. Subsequently, the tertiary tier establishes a radiative cooling-dominant gas–liquid heat-transfer scheme with a net power of 133.7 W m−2. Finally, the quaternary tier employs biomimetic flow channels to suppress vapour dispersion and sustain a self-sustaining ‘condensation–radiative cooling–recondensation’ cycle. Operating passively, the system achieves a recovery rate of 41.6 kg m−2 day−1 and an 83% retention rate. For a 300-MW plant, this yields 2.7 × 108 tonnes of annual water savings, meeting the domestic needs of 2.2 million households.

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Fig. 1: From a bioinspired concept to an implemented design.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
Fig. 2: Analysis of the UTO structure.
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Fig. 3: Structural and thermal properties of the water vapour recovery unit.
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Fig. 4: Surface wettability and micro/nanoscale condensation mechanisms.
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Fig. 5: Structural design for optical optimization.
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Fig. 6: Water recovery from wasted vapour.
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Data availability

All data supporting the findings of this study are available within the Article and its Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 52573034 to T.W.) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2022YFC3901902 to T.W.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage (Ministry of Education); Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure and Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China

    Congyuan Zhang, Heng Xie, Changjun Guo, Weilong Zhou, Feicong Fan, Kang Zhou, Ting Wu & Jinping Qu

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, P. R. China

    Zuankai Wang

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  1. Congyuan Zhang
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Contributions

J.Q., Z.W. and T.W. designed the project. T.W. and H.X. supervised and reviewed it. C.Z., C.G. and F.F. fabricated the samples. C.Z., C.G. and W.Z. performed the experiments and measurements. C.Z. and K.Z. offered assistance with the modelling and equipment. C.Z., T.W. and H.X. wrote the Article and Supplementary Information. C.Z. processed data and plotted images. C.Z., C.G., W.Z. and K.Z. contributed to the data analysis and manuscript review. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ting Wu.

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Nature Water thanks Jonathan Boreyko, Xianming Dai and Tingxian Li for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Zhang, C., Xie, H., Guo, C. et al. A bioinspired hierarchical architecture for the high-yield recovery of industrial water vapour. Nat Water (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-026-00635-8

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