Functional porous polymers by emulsion templating: Recent advances

Porous materials are currently of great scientific as well as technological interest. A strategy that is increasingly employed to prepare highly porous and well defined macroporous polymers is emulsion templating, whereby the droplets of a high internal phase emulsion are used to create pores in a solid material by curing or polymerization of the emulsion continuous phase. This Feature Article covers recent work in this area, focusing on: the preparation of such materials from new precursors and via novel approaches; the chemical modification of existing materials; and the application of the resulting porous structures in diverse areas of science and technology. Emulsion templating is an attractive method for the production of well-defined, highly porous materials. Recent work in this area is reviewed, focusing on both the development of new functional materials as well as the chemical functionalization of existing ones, together with their application in a range of areas of materials science.