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Passive water ascent in a tall, scalable synthetic tree

Publication ,  Journal Article
Shi, W; Dalrymple, RM; McKenny, CJ; Morrow, DS; Rashed, ZT; Surinach, DA; Boreyko, JB
Published in: Scientific Reports
January 14, 2020

The transpiration cycle in trees is powered by a negative water potential generated within the leaves, which pumps water up a dense array of xylem conduits. Synthetic trees can mimic this transpiration cycle, but have been confined to pumping water across a single microcapillary or microfluidic channels. Here, we fabricated tall synthetic trees where water ascends up an array of large diameter conduits, to enable transpiration at the same macroscopic scale as natural trees. An array of 19 tubes of millimetric diameter were embedded inside of a nanoporous ceramic disk on one end, while their free end was submerged in a water reservoir. After saturating the synthetic tree by boiling it underwater, water can flow continuously up the tubes even when the ceramic disk was elevated over 3 m above the reservoir. A theory is developed to reveal two distinct modes of transpiration: an evaporation-limited regime and a flow-limited regime.

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Published In

Scientific Reports

DOI

EISSN

2045-2322

Publication Date

January 14, 2020

Volume

10

Issue

1

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
 

Citation

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Shi, W., Dalrymple, R. M., McKenny, C. J., Morrow, D. S., Rashed, Z. T., Surinach, D. A., & Boreyko, J. B. (2020). Passive water ascent in a tall, scalable synthetic tree. Scientific Reports, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-57109-z
Shi, Weiwei, Richard M. Dalrymple, Collin J. McKenny, David S. Morrow, Ziad T. Rashed, Daniel A. Surinach, and Jonathan B. Boreyko. “Passive water ascent in a tall, scalable synthetic tree.” Scientific Reports 10, no. 1 (January 14, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-57109-z.
Shi W, Dalrymple RM, McKenny CJ, Morrow DS, Rashed ZT, Surinach DA, et al. Passive water ascent in a tall, scalable synthetic tree. Scientific Reports. 2020 Jan 14;10(1).
Shi, Weiwei, et al. “Passive water ascent in a tall, scalable synthetic tree.” Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Jan. 2020. Crossref, doi:10.1038/s41598-019-57109-z.
Shi W, Dalrymple RM, McKenny CJ, Morrow DS, Rashed ZT, Surinach DA, Boreyko JB. Passive water ascent in a tall, scalable synthetic tree. Scientific Reports. Springer Science and Business Media LLC; 2020 Jan 14;10(1).

Published In

Scientific Reports

DOI

EISSN

2045-2322

Publication Date

January 14, 2020

Volume

10

Issue

1

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC