Porous Materials 2011

Dear Colleagues

Porous materials are finding applications in many fields, such as membranes for water purification and gas separation, or the slow release of drugs. For porous (single crystal) semi-conductors, uses are emerging in areas like photonics, sensors, Li ion batteries, MEMS, and bio technology. These applications all require materials with consistent and reliable structures, and pore sizes may range from 0.4 nm in crystalline zeolite structures to 1000 nm in polymeric membrane systems.  In semiconductors pore sizes range form a few nm to well above µm and morpholgies from straight cylinders to fractal.  Similarly there is a wide range of fabrication techniques, such as lithography, phase inversion, templating and vapor deposition, and characterizing such materials has required advances in imaging and spectroscopy.

Given the high level of research interest in, and the importance of porous materials, a special edition of "Materials" has been devoted to this topic. Articles that focus on the characterization, fabrication, performance and modeling of porous materials are welcomed, and organic, inorganic and composite materials systems will be considered.

We look forward to receiving your manuscripts.

Prof. Dr. Stephen Gray
Prof. Dr. Helmut Foell
Guest Editor