Nanoporous metal oxide composite materials: A journey from the past, present to future

Along with the progress of porous metal oxides, the development of multi-metal oxide composite materials have received a significant attention in the last few decades owing to the interesting physical and chemical properties of the hybrid oxide nanostructures. Consequently, a large number of national and international articles, communications etc. related to these oxide composites have come to light. This review conveys a comprehensive overview of those nanoporous metal oxide composites, illustrating various synthetic pathways and formation mechanisms for composite oxides based on template and non-templated routes. Also, characteristic properties of the synthesized materials analyzed using various techniques have been discussed systematically here. Moreover, the current review will also focus on a thorough literature survey of significant potential applications of these oxide composites in different fields including catalysis, biosensing, adsorption, energy conversion, toxic chemical removal, solar cell etc. demonstrating the impact of the metal compositions, nanostructures on the performances of the materials. Finally, a brief perspective is mentioned indicating the future prospects of these porous composites. Though, the scope of this review is limited to porous metal oxide composites, the information presented here can be helpful for any researchers working in other emerging fields.