Nanoporous materials consist of a regular organic or inorganic bulk phase in which a porous structure is present. Nanoporous materials exhibit pore diameters that are most appropriately quantified using units of nanometers. The diameter of pores in nanoporous materials is thus typically 100 nanometers or smaller. Nanoporous materials include subsets of mesoporous (with typical pores having sizes between 2 and 50 nanometers) and microporous materials (typical pores with diameters <2nm). Pores may be open or closed, and pore connectivity and void fraction vary considerably, as with other porous materials. Open pores are pores that connect to the surface of the material whereas closed pores are pockets of void space within a bulk material. Open pores are useful for molecular separation techniques, adsorption, and catalysis studies. Closed pores are mainly used in thermal insulators and for structural applications. Most nanoporous materials can be classified as bulk materials or membranes. Activated carbon and zeolites are two examples of bulk nanoporous materials, while cell membranes can be thought of as nanoporous membranes. A porous medium or a porous material is a material containing pores (voids). The skeletal portion of the material is often called the "matrix" or "frame". The pores are typically filled with a fluid (liquid or gas).
There are many natural nanoporous materials, but artificial materials can also be manufactured. One method of doing so is to combine polymers with different melting points, so that upon heating one polymer degrades. A nanoporous material with consistently sized pores has the property of letting only certain substances pass through, while blocking others.
Classifications
Classification By Size The term nanomaterials covers diverse forms of materials with various applications. According to IUPAC porous materials are subdivided into 3 categories:
Microporous materials: 0.2–2 nm Mesoporous materials: 2–50 nm Macroporous materials: 50–1000 nm These categories conflict with the classical definition of nanoporous materials, as they have pore diameters between 1 and 100 nm. This range covers all the classifications listed above. However, for the sake of simplicity, scientists choose to use the term nanomaterials and list its associated diameter instead. Microporous and mesoporous materials are distinguished as separate material classes owing to the distinct applications afforded by the pores sizes in these materials. Confusingly, the term microporous is used to describe materials with smaller pores sizes than materials commonly referred to simply as nanoporous. More correctly, microporous materials are better understood as a subset of nanoporous materials, namely materials that exhibit pore diameters smaller than 2 nm. Having pore diameters with length scales of molecules, such materials enable applications that require molecular selectivity such as filtration and separation membranes. Mesoporous materials, referring generally to materials with average pore diameters in the range 2-50 nm are interesting as catalyst support materials and adsorbents owing to their high surface area to volume ratios. Sometimes classifying by size becomes difficult as there could be porous materials that have various diameters. For example, microporous materials may have a few pores with 2 to 50 nm diameter due to random grain packing. These specifics must be taken into consideration when categorizing by pore size.
Classification By Network Materials In addition to classification by size, nanoporous materials can be further classified into organic and inorganic network materials. A network material is the structure 'hosts' the pores and is where the medium (gas or liquid) interacts with the substrate. While there are plenty of inorganic nanoporous membranes, there are few organic ones due to issues with stability.
Organic Organic nanoporous materials are polymers made from elements such as boron, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. These materials are usually microporous although mesoporous/microporous structures do exist. These include covalent organic frameworks (COFs), covalent triazine frameworks, polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs), hyper cross-linked polymers (HCPs), and conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs). Each of these has different structures and manufacturing steps. In general, to create organic nanoporous materials, a monomer with greater than 2 branches (i.e. covalent bonds) is dissolved in a solvent. After additional monomers are added and polymerization occurs, the solvent is removed and the remaining structure is considered a nanoporous material. Organic nanoporous materials can be further classified into crystalline and amorphous networks. Crystalline networks are materials that have a well-defined pore sizes. The pore sizes are so well defined that simply by changing the monomer, one can obtain different pore sizes. COFs are an example of such crystalline structure. In contrast, amorphous nanoporous materials have a distribution of pore sizes and are usually disordered. An example is PIMs. Both categories have various uses in gas sorption and catalysis reactions.
Inorganic Inorganic nanoporous materials are porous materials that include the use of oxide-type, carbon, binary, and pure metal materials. Examples include zeolites, nanoporous alumina, and titania nanotubes. Zeolites are crystalline hydrated tectoaluminosilicates. This material is a combination of alkali/alkali earth metals, alumina, and silica hydrates. These are used for ion-exchange beds and for water purification. Nanoporous alumina is a biocompatible material widely used in various dental and orthopedic implants. Titania nanotubes are also used in orthopedics but are special as they can form a titanium oxide layer upon exposure to oxygen. Because the surface of the material is oxide-protected, this material has excellent biocompatibility with incredible mechanical strength.
Applications
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