Preparation of multilevel macroporous materials using natural plants as templates

A series of two-dimensionally (2D) ordered macroporous silica materials have been prepared by using eight natural plants as templates. The macroporous materials replicate the complicated morphologies of natural plants precisely, and retained the original pore shape of plants. Meanwhile, these macroporous materials showed roughly similar morphologies and pore structure by the same part of plants, while the distribution of macropore diameters is ca. 8–1,000 μm. It may provide a effective approach to prepare macroporous materials with different 2D pore and complicated morphologies. These 2D ordered macropore silica materials may have potentially application for tissue repairing and templates materials to produce other kinds of macropores or hierarchically porous materials.