Functionalized carbon nanocones performance in water harvesting

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the water capture process for functionalized carbon nanocones (CNCs) through molecular dynamic simulations in the following three scenarios: a single CNC in contact with a reservoir containing liquid water, a single CNC in contact with a water vapor reservoir, and a combination of more than one CNC in contact with vapor. We found that water flows through the nanocones when in contact with the liquid reservoir if the nanocone tip presents hydrophilic functionalization. In contact with steam, we observed the formation of droplets at the base of the nanocone only when hydrophilic functionalization is present. Then, water flows through in a linear manner, a process that is more efficient than that in the liquid reservoir regime. The scalability of the process is tested by analyzing the water flow through more than one nanocone. The results suggest that the distance between the nanocones is a fundamental ingredient for the efficiency of water harvesting.