Glossary: Porous Material

Any solid containing pores and voids. Porous materials have traditionally been categorized into microporous, mesoporous and macroporous materials. Microporous materials contain micropores, which have diameters or dimensions < 2 nm. Mesoporous materials contain mesopores, which have dimensions in the range 2 – 50 nm, and macroporous materials have pores > 50 nm. Recently the term ‘nanoporous’ has become more common, referring to materials with pores < 100 nm in dimension.