Metallic Nanoparticles Adsorbed at the Pore Surface of Polymers with Various Porous Morphologies: Toward Hybrid Materials Meant for Heterogeneous Supported Catalysis

Hybrid materials consisting of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) adsorbed on porous polymeric supports have been the subject of intense research for many years. Such materials indeed gain from intrinsic properties, e.g., high specific surface area, catalytic properties, porous features, etc., of both components. Rational design of such materials is fundamental regarding the functionalization of the support surface and thus the interactions required for the metallic NPs to be strongly immobilized at the pore surface. Herein are presented some significant scientific contributions to this rapidly expanding research field. This contribution will notably focus on various examples of such hybrid systems prepared from porous polymers, whatever the morphology and size of the pores. Such porous polymeric supports can display pores with sizes ranging from a few nanometers to hundreds of microns while pore morphologies, such as spherical, tubular, etc., and/or open or closed, can be obtained. These systems have allowed some catalytic molecular reactions to be successfully undertaken, such as the reduction of nitroaromatic compounds or dyes, e.g., methylene blue and Eosin Y, boronic acid-based C–C homocoupling reactions, but also cascade reactions consisting of two catalytic reactions achieved in a row.