University of Texas at Dallas researchers have discovered that a novel surface they developed to harvest water from the air encourages tiny water droplets to move spontaneously into larger droplets. Their liquid lubricant, a hydrophilic slippery liquid-infused porous surface (SLIPS), has a unique hydrophilic nature for water harvesting and rapidly directs water droplets into reservoirs. They were testing different lubricants to determine which could best facilitate water harvesting when they saw the smaller water droplets propel themselves into larger droplets. “If we can do that, we can harvest water anywhere that has air, which is particularly important in regions where water is scarce,” Dai said. Other UT Dallas contributors were co-lead author Deepak Monga, a mechanical engineering doctoral student, and Dr. Lei Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher in mechanical engineering.