Gel-induced dew condensation

Hydrogels are known to adsorb a large amount of vapor and liquid water, making them good candidates to enhance the amount of dew condensed from atmosphere. Although water vapor adsorption and liquid invasion in hydrogels have been the object of many studies, water condensation has been only little investigated. We address here the process of dew condensation on hydrogel grains widely used in agriculture (Aquasorb 3005TM). We show that dew condensing on hydrogels is enhanced when compared to a regular bare substrate due to vapor adsorption, which adds to condensation. Hydrogels, which can both capture water by vapor adsorption and condense water vapor with high efficiency, are thus good candidates to harvest water vapor from atmosphere with higher yield than regular bare surfaces