Water insoluble polymeric materials with well-oriented structures prepared by ice-templating: A mini-review

Water insoluble polymeric materials with well-oriented structures have attracted great attention in the area of membrane science, biological tissues, and organs, electromagnetic interference shielding device as well as piezoelectric/piezoresistive sensors due to its unique and essential functions originating from the anisotropic structures. Ice-templating is a facile method to prepare directional porous materials with regulable pore size and cell thickness which is only applicable to aqueous systems. Derived from this methodology, crystallizable solvent templating methods have been utilized to architect water insoluble polymeric materials with anisotropic pores. This review is aimed to elaborate the fundamental principles of the critical factors that influence the physics involved in directional freezing of the particulate non-aqueous systems. Solvent templates with low melting point and high melting point are discussed, which both allow the easy removal of crystallizable templates while keeping the aligned channels within the polymeric matrix intact. Last but not least, cryo-polymerization and removal of water-soluble polymers to obtain special forms of water-insoluble polymer-oriented pore materials are also included. This review provides prompt advancement and valuable information about the preparation and application of water insoluble polymeric materials with oriented structures using ice-templating. image