Honeycomb-like rGO aerogels via oriented freeze-drying as efficient organic solvents removing absorbents

•An rGO aerogel was prepared via oriented freezing-dried method.•High absorption capacity for organic solvents.•High mechanical compression and recyclable materials. It is essential to synthesize materials that fit versatile application backgrounds in our life through structural design method. As we all know, channel design is one of the crucial factors in catalysts and absorbent materials synthesis. In this study, we have fabricated honeycomb-like structured and porous rGO (reduced graphene oxide) aerogels by oriented structural design. The synthesis process endowed the rGO aerogels with the regular capillary channels. And it was demonstrated to possess a high absorption capacity for organic solvent ranging from 251 to 396 times (chloroform) of its own mass. Moreover, owing to its high mechanical compression, it can be recycled many times by squeezing out the organic solvent from the channels. Due to its unique performance in absorption and mechanical compression, the rGO aerogel is an ideal absorbent for polluted water treatment applications.