Hard templates for soft materials: Creating nanostructured organic materials

This review describes the possibilities of using hard templates to create nanostructured soft materials, for example, polymer networks, carbon nitrides, or carbonaceous materials, that is, materials which are still organic in their nature. Examples are given for the whole range of hard templates described in the literature, starting from silica nanoparticles, zeolites, and periodic mesoporous silicas to aluminum oxide membranes and colloidal crystals.