Nanoscale Porous Materials for Water Treatment: Advances and Challenges

Abstract

Micro and mesoporous materials have been a great focus of scientific and technological interest from almost half of the century. This is due to its large surface area and extremely high porosity which offers huge potential for its application in a variety of fields, ranging from materials science to biomedical research. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has classified porous materials into 3 groups (Davis, 2002): (a) Microporous materials (MiPMs), having pore diameters less than 2 nm; (b) mesoporous materials (MePM), having pore diameters ranging from 2 50 nm; and (c) macroporous materials (MaPM), having pore diameters larger than 50 nm. The term nanoporous materials (NPM) have been used for those porous materials with pore diameters of < 100 nm. Hence, the NPM is defined as a material having a pore size < 100 nm of any solid structural components whether or not the structure itself is nano size (i.e., < 100 nm). Hence, it covers porous materials lies in MiPMs, MePM and MaPM. Table 11.1 summarizes the classification of porous materials based on pore size.