In the past decades, research on ‘nano-’ science and technology has triggered
great progress in new methodologies and principles for materials synthesis.
Nanocasting, as one of the most recently developed and most versatile techniques, has been widely explored and a large number of nanostructured
materials has been synthesized, with well-defined structures on macroscopical, mesoscopical and atomic levels, as well as specific properties. The
properties can be engineered by controlling the sizes of the particles in the
micron-meter range, pores in the nanometer size range and the compositions
at the atomic level. It is noteworthy that nanocasting is a significant development after the self-assembly process for mesoporous materials. Many new
materials have been prepared from nanocasting so far, which are usually difficult to synthesize by self-assembly