Hollow mesoporous materials (HMMs), especially the silica-based and carbon-based HMMs, are of great importance on account of their tunable pore sizes and structures, chemical stability, facile surface functionalization, high guest molecules uploading and broad applications in the field of catalysis, biology and energy storage. Template method is one of the most effective methods to prepare HMMs. Controlling HMMs can be realized by modulating the templates. Polymer-based templates, including micelles, self-assemblies of block polymers, polymer latex particles, natural/synthetic macromolecules and sophisticate-structured macromolecules (dentrimer and brushes), are successfully applied in preparing HMMs in desired forms. Recent progress in the synthesis of hollow mesoporous materials with different polymer-based templates are reviewed. Compared with the conventional surfactant/inorganic oxide templates, polymer-based templates are easy to undergo surface modification and possess ampler self-assembly morphologies such as spheres, vesicles and rods under more gentle and controllable synthetic conditions. Especially the unique hollow cavity of HMMs is more efficient to capture the noble metal nanoparticles as cores. Applications of noble-metal-uploading hollow mesoporous materials as catalytic carriers are discussed mainly in three aspects including chemical catalysis, electrocatalysis and photoelectric catalysis. At the same time, the problems hindering the development of HMMs are pointed out, and the application prospect of HMMs in catalysis is prospected.
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Polymer-based templates
2.1 Self-assemblies of block copolymers
2.2 Emulsion droplet and polymer latex particles
2.3 Natural/synthetic biological macromolecules
2.4 Sophisticate-structured polymers
3 Hollow mesoporous materials as catalytic carriers
4 Conclusion