Nature-Inspired, Multi-Functional Surface Coatings for Sustainable Life Support in Space and on Earth

目前，现有的水回收、微生物污染机制和电离辐射防护不足以应对未来月球、火星等地的长时间太空飞行任务。这些因素威胁到材料的完整性，生物再生生命支持系统，但更重要的是，宇航员的健康，因此，寻找可持续生命支持的新方法至关重要。在这项研究中，我们提出了一种受自然启发的多功能表面涂层的设计，该涂层可以吸收宇航员室内活动产生的多余大气水分。此外，所提出的表面涂层可以导致微生物的运输，并可以增强辐射屏蔽。受大自然的启发，它由人工设计的空心微结构组成，由高分辨率的增材制造技术制造而成。这项研究的目的是改进被动系统，从而减少在空间和地球上应用的能源消耗。

Currently, existing water recovery, microbial contamination mechanisms, and ionizing radiation protection are inadequate for future long duration spaceflight missions to Moon, Mars, and beyond. These factors threaten the integrity of materials, bio-regenerative life support systems, but more importantly, the health of astronauts, and thus, finding new approaches for sustainable life support is crucial. In this research, we present the design of a nature-inspired, multi-functional surface coating, which absorbs excess atmospheric moisture produced by astronauts' indoors activities. Further, the proposed surface coating could lead to the transport of microbes and could enhance radiation shielding. Inspired by nature, it consists of artificially designed hollow microstructures, which are fabricated by a high-resolution additive manufacturing technique. Aim of this research is to improve passive systems, and therefore, reducing the energy consumption of applications in space and on Earth.