Efficient liquid transport in conventional capillary structures is often hindered by a fundamental trade-off between capillary pressure and permeability, as well as the absence of a built-in driving force for guided flow. These limitations restrict their applications in heat transfer, water/energy harvesting, and microfluidics. Here, we propose a hierarchical gradient dendritic mesh (HGDM), where micro-nano dendrites with density and composition gradients are selectively formed on the warp (longitudinal) copper wires aligned with the flow direction. This architecture creates aligned microchannels that serve as preferential pathways for fluid transport, significantly enhancing permeability. Meanwhile, micro-dendrites with nano-branches increase the effective surface area and reduce the local radius of curvature, generating strong capillary pressure. Additionally, the dendritic gradients induce unbalanced capillary forces, enabling direction-preferred liquid transport and further improving transport efficiency. As a result, the HGDM achieves a capillary performance parameter (ΔP·K) of 4.14 × 10−7 N and a 242% increase in liquid transport velocity compared to a dendritic copper plate. This design is projected to increase the maximum capillary limit of heat transfer devices by ∼170% over conventional configurations. This highly efficient liquid transport platform provides new insights into capillary-driven water manipulation and opening avenues for advanced applications across multiple disciplines.
Zhai et al. (2025) studied this question.