A great number of studies on new synthetic materials have been focused on the preparation of different porous polymers. This review explains the principles and techniques of polymeric foam formation and their features followed by an overview of papers on polymeric porous materials. Physical blowing agent, phase separation, leaching, etching, and thermal decomposition are the main techniques for foam formation that are briefly described. This discussion covers different polymeric foams with various morphologies, pore sizes, and properties. These polymeric foams can be applied for various purposes, including tissue engineering, membranes in separation process, electrical and thermal insulators, packaging, and scaffolds.

Mesoporous carbon materials have attracted both academic and industrial interests because of their outstanding physical and chemical properties, such as high surface area, large pore-volume, good thermostability, improved mass transport, and diffusion. Mesoporous carbon materials with various pore sizes and pore structures can be synthesized via different methods. Their unique properties have made them a suitable choice for various applications, such as energy-storage batteries, supercapacitors, biosensors, fuel cells, adsorption/separation of various molecules, catalysts/catalyst support, enzyme immobilization, and drug delivery, in different fields. This review covers the fabrication techniques of mesoporous carbon structures and their typical applications in various fields and features a brief introduction of the functionalization and modification of mesoporous carbons.