Preface

Nanoporous materials are porous solids that possess pores in the range of 0.2 nm up to 50 nm, for example zeolites and zeolite-like materials, mesoporous oxides such as silica, metal organic frameworks, pillared clays, porous carbons, and related materials. These materials provide unique template platforms for the synthesis of other nanostructures with controlled geometric features. Nanoporous materials are outstanding due to their unique chemical and physical properties such as high specific surface areas, well-defined pore sizes, and functional sites, which make them suitable candidate for a plethora of applications, including catalysis, energy harvesting and storage, photonics and optoelectronics, nanomedicine, sensing etc.

This book is a collection of comprehensive chapters of lasting value to the field. The contributions cover all aspects of nanoporous materials, including their preparation, structure, post-synthetic modification, characterization, and potential applications. The book covers the new trends and challenges in the synthesis and surface engineering of a wide range of nanoporous materials. All the chapters are written by professionals that make this book an especially valuable and reliable source of information. To illustrate the scope of nanoporous materials, the chapters are presented with simple diagrams, charts, and graphs. We hope this book will benefit the scientists and engineers to enhance the understanding of nanoporous materials to a new level and its subsequent utilization to accelerate the advancement in technology. We are deeply thankful to the authors for their hard work and contributions. We wish to express our gratitude to the staff of IntechOpen publishers for their patience during the development of this project and for encouraging us during the various stages of preparation. Without all this support, it would not have been possible for us to publish this book.

#### **Mohsen Sheikholeslami Kandelousi**

Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Islamic Republic of Iran

#### **Sadia Ameen**

Advanced Materials and Devices Laboratory, Department of Bio-Convergence Science, Jeongeup Campus, Jeonbuk National University, Republic of Korea

#### **M. Shaheer Akhtar**

New & Renewable Energy Material Development Center (NewREC), Jeonbuk National University, Republic of Korea
