Polymer-Derived Ceramics with engineered mesoporosity: From design to application in catalysis

The scientific and technological challenges of energy-related fields are mainly associated with the emergence of new, advanced knowledge and fundamental understanding of materials. In the different categories of materials, ceramics offer a unique combination of physical and chemical properties making them key contributors for energy production/conversion and storage applications. The Polymer-Derived Ceramics (PDC) route enables the synthesis of such materials with an excellent control of the porosity at mesoscopic length scale offering potentialities as support materials to anchor and disperse active metals or for a direct use as catalysts. This review proposes an overview of the works related to the design of mesoporous PDC in the last 15 years. A particular focus is made on the forming methods which have been associated with the PDC route to engineer the mesoporosity and the shape of ceramics derived from preceramic polymers. The main topics reviewed are related to the processing of tailor-made polymeric precursors to mesoporous components, and to the characterization of the material properties. The two strategies adopted for the development of the catalytic activity of mesoporous PDC, i.e., deposition of metal nanoparticles on the mesoporous network or in-situ generation of the catalytically active phase in the mesoporous PDC matrix, are presented. Their recent application in various catalyst-assisted reactions is then discussed. Additionally, we outline the current challenges on the field of mesoporous PDC and provide perspectives on the need for further advances in mesoporous PDC.