Moisture-Absorbing Holey Graphene-Wood Composite Aerogel for Fast Dehumidification

Abstract

Air dehumidification is important for human health, grain storage, fruit preservation, etc. However, traditional desiccants have difficulty storing the captured moisture and are hard to recycle, resulting in a poor dehumidification effect. In this study, a sustainable, moisture-absorbing aerogel fabricated from natural wood was constructed by removing lignin from wood, filling GO and etching to form a porous skeleton structure, and constructing LiCl in turn. When LiCl is immersed in the structure, due to the strong interaction between the rich hydroxyl and carboxyl groups on the surface of wood fiber, graphene, and LiCl, the loss of LiCl is effectively prevented. After 30 h of exposure to air (RH = 26–30%, T = 24–26 °C), the water absorption capacity of LiCl@holey GO-wood is 3.597 g g^–1, which is approximately three times higher than that of LiCl (1.216 g), 3 times higher than 4A molecular sieve (0.72 g), and 25 times higher than silica gel (0.145 g). Compared with common hygroscopic materials, the design of the wood-based multiporous hygroscopic aerogel makes the structure resistant to collapse and realizes multiple advantages of hygroscopic property, structural integrity, and long-term reusability of the wood-based aerogel.