Recent progress in hierarchical porous materials with enhanced performance for VOCs purification: From synthesis method to structure-activity relationship

As a primary category of atmospheric pollutants, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) pose an escalating threat to both the global ecological balance and human health. The elimination of VOCs has become a research topic in the past few decades. Material development serves as the cornerstone of technological evolution, particularly within the realms of catalysis and adsorption technologies. While traditional materials have laid the foundation for VOCs control, their performance is frequently bottlenecked by restricted mass transfer, limited active site accessibility, and rapid deactivation under industrial conditions. Engineering hierarchically porous materials (HP-Materials) have emerged as a transformative strategy to overcome these diffusion-related constraints. By integrating interconnected hierarchical pore, HP-materials significantly facilitate the transport of bulky molecules and create highly accessible interfaces for multi-phase reactions. This comprehensive review provides a holistic synthesis of the recent paradigm shifts in the design and application of HP-materials for VOCs elimination. Moving beyond the isolated technique studies, this work constructs a unified analytical framework that systematically evaluates the impact of hierarchical porosity across the three most critical removal pathways, including adsorption, photocatalysis, and thermal catalysis. We delve into sophisticated characterization techniques and advanced theoretical models, including molecular dynamics and density functional theory, which collectively unveil the fundamental mechanisms governing enhanced molecular diffusion and adsorption kinetics. Central to this discussion is a rigorous elucidation of the structure-activity relationships, revealing how these multiscale architectures synergistically optimize internal diffusion pathways and ensure long-term operational stability. By identifying the prevailing technical hurdles, such as the trade-off between structural robustness and high porosity, and outlining strategic future research trajectories, this review serves as a definitive roadmap for the rational design of high-performance HP-Materials dedicated to large-scale atmospheric environmental remediation.