Uniform Macroporous Ceramics and Plastics by Emulsion Templating *

Macroporous materials with uniform pore sizes in the range from 50 nm to 10 mm are predicted to have unique and highly useful properties as optical devices, specifically for use as photonic crystals with optical bandgaps. Moreover, the ability to control pore size and uniformity could produce improved filters, membrane supports, catalytic materials, and adsorbents. Nevertheless, until very recently, there has been no general method available for producing such materials. The primary problem has been controlling the pore size distribution; existing techniques result in an extremely broad distribution of pore sizes. Moreover, the ability of existing techniques to control the overall porosity of macroporous materials is limited. The purpose of this article is to describe a new method for producing macroporous materials with highly uniform pores in the range from 50 nm to 10 mm. The technique can also produce materials of any desired porosity up to approximately 90 %.