Highly structured porous solids from liquid foam templates

We demonstrate the generation of highly structured porous solids from liquid foam templates, using ordered foam layers and threads made from hydrogels. For this purpose we separate sufficiently foam generation and solidification: well known and highly controllable liquid foam structures are created, which are thereafter ‘frozen’ in situ through polymerisation and cross-linking. Being extendible to a large range of materials and length scales, such an approach opens up a plethora of opportunities in material development.