Ice Templating and Freeze-Drying for Porous Materials and Their Applications

4Porous Polymers by Ice Templating

4.1 Introduction

Porous materials, including polymers, are used in a very wide range of applications, including separation, catalysis, energy storage, tissue scaffolds, to name a few [1–4]. The pore sizes may be categorized as micropores (<2 nm), mesopores (2–50 nm), and macropores (>50 nm) [1]. The pores may be arranged either in order or at random. The pore shapes may be designed and synthesized for shape‐controlled molecular separation or catalysis [5–8]. A porous material containing pores of different sizes (particularly in different categories) is called a hierarchically porous material [1].

Mesoporous polymers and macroporous polymers are usually prepared by templating techniques [9–12]. The templates may ...