Next Materials (Jan 2024)
Interfacial templating strategy for asymmetric mesoporous materials: Synthesis and typical applications
Abstract
Asymmetric mesoporous materials have attracted enormous attention due to their unique anisotropic architectures, composition and functional asymmetry, on the basis of inheriting the advantages of traditional mesoporous materials (large surface area, tunable pore size, etc.). The popularity of asymmetric mesoporous materials stems from their special properties derived from their anisotropic structures. The individual portions of asymmetric mesoporous materials can be selectively modified and function independently, achieving functional coordination without mutual interference, which holds great potential for their use in catalysis, energy conversion and storage, biomedicine, etc. Generally, the inspiration for the synthesis of asymmetric mesoporous materials comes from the traditional synthesis methods, and the modulation of interface template properties can make the architectures grow from symmetric to asymmetric. Therefore, the types of interfaces (gas-solid, liquid-solid, and liquid-liquid interface) play an important role in the construction of mesoporous architectures. Through precise manipulation of the assembly of micelles at diverse interfaces, asymmetric mesoporous materials with distinct structures have been synthesized, such as dumbbell-like, tadpole-like, calabash-shape, and also multi-level architectures. Nowadays, with the growing demands and the complexity of application scenarios, mesoporous nanomaterials with novel mesoporous structures, morphologies, compositions and functions are urgently needed. In this review, the unique asymmetric mesoporous materials both in synthesis and characteristic applications are systematically summarized. We highlight the synthetic strategies and examples for asymmetric mesoporous materials via the interfacial templating approach, including selective deposition on the gas-solid interface or the alteration of interfacial energy on the liquid-solid and liquid-liquid interfaces. In addition, the specific applications of these asymmetric mesoporous materials and the structure-activity relationships in the domains of catalysis, electrochemical energy storage, biomedicine are discussed. Finally, challenges and perspectives of this field for the future outlook are also proposed.
