LAUSR

Dehumidification is significant for environmental sustainability and human health. Traditional dehumidification methods involve significant energy consumption and have negative impact on the environment. The core challenge is to expose hygroscopic surfaces to the air, and appropriately store the captured water and avoid surface inactivation. Here, we report a nanostructured moisture-absorbing gel (N-MAG) for passive dehumidification, which is consisted of a hydrophilic nanocellulose network controlled functionalized by hygroscopic lithium chloride. The interconnected nanocellulose can transfer the captured water to the internal space of the bulky N-MAG, eliminating the water accumulation near the surfaces and hence enabling high-rate moisture absorption. The N-MAG can reduce the relative humidity from 96.7% to 28.7% in 6 h, even if the space is over 2×104 times of its own volume. The condensed water can be completely confined in N-MAG, overcoming the environmental pollution problem. This research bring new perspective for sustainable humidity management without energy consumption and with positive environmental footprint. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.