Aligned Macroporous Monoliths by Ice-Templating

Abstract The ice-templating (IT) approach has become a popular way to prepare macroporous monoliths due to environmental friendliness and low cost, as well as the controllability of the macroporosity and exterior structures. In particular, a directional freezing process induces the formation of aligned ice-crystals that afford a brand-new material genre: aligned macroporous monoliths (AMMs). This short review gives an overview of the IT technique and the preparation of AMMs, with a subsequent unfolding of two representative AMMs, i.e., aligned micro-honeycomb monoliths and aligned micro-lamellar monoliths. These AMMs are characterized with their structural anisotropy and regularity, which imparts potentials towards various applications. We particularly highlighted the utilization of these AMMs in the context of thermal insulation, filtration, energy storage and structural engineering. Finally, future directions within this research field are also discussed.