Chapter 8 - Design and Fabrication of Porous Nanostructures and Their Applications

Abstract

Porous nanostructures having well-defined pore structures and surface functionalities are widely used in different areas of applied science and engineering. Depending upon the pore size and framework building blocks, there are a total of six types of nanoporous materials available. Due to the large surface to volume ratio in addition to the interlinked connection with reactant pathways of some porous nanostructures, they have been reported as good-quality chemical and physical catalysts. Different porous nanostructures are used in electrochemical biosensors, and they are also widely used in rechargeable batteries, mostly in Li-ion batteries, in solar cells due to their reflectivity properties, and as electrode materials in the production of high-performance supercapacitors for their porosity and distribution properties of their pore size. Increased surface area and porous structures help in applications of these nanomaterials in treatments of environmental pollutants. Metallic porous nanostructures are also used in random lasers for their localized surface plasmon resonance properties.