A review of fabrication strategies and applications of porous ceramics prepared by freeze-casting method

Abstract Freeze casting is a promising technique to fabricate porous materials with complex pore shapes and component geometries. Of particular interest are the unique structure and properties exhibited by porous freeze-casted ceramics, which opened new opportunities in various applications. In this review, we aim to elaborate the fundamental principles of the porous microstructure evolution and summarize the latest achievements and strategies for the freeze casting process as well as the applications of porous ceramics prepared by this method. The effects of additives, freezing conditions, suspension solids loading and particle size on pore structure of the porous ceramics and its applications are discussed. We also outlook the existing issues and challenges in the fabrication porous ceramics by freeze a casting method.

[1]  Yan Huang,et al.  In vitro characterization of chitosan-gelatin scaffolds for tissue engineering. , 2005, Biomaterials.

[2]  Donald E. Wohlschlag,et al.  Freezing Resistance in Some Antarctic Fishes , 1969, Science.

[3]  T. Moritz,et al.  Ice-mould freeze casting of porous ceramic components , 2007 .

[4]  Y. Zhang,et al.  Effects of gelatin addition on the microstructure of freeze-cast porous hydroxyapatite ceramics , 2009 .

[5]  M. Gutiérrez,et al.  Ice-Templated Materials: Sophisticated Structures Exhibiting Enhanced Functionalities Obtained after Unidirectional Freezing and Ice-Segregation-Induced Self-Assembly† , 2008 .

[6]  Yuping Zeng,et al.  Microstructure and mechanical properties of porous Si3N4 ceramics prepared by freeze-casting , 2012 .

[7]  Eduardo Saiz,et al.  Freezing as a Path to Build Complex Composites , 2006, Science.

[8]  Y. Yeh,et al.  Antifreeze Proteins: Structures and Mechanisms of Function. , 1996, Chemical reviews.

[9]  Young-Hag Koh,et al.  Freeze casting of porous Ni–YSZ cermets , 2007 .

[10]  Q. Jiang,et al.  Lamellar-interpenetrated Al–Si–Mg/SiC composites fabricated by freeze casting and pressureless infiltration , 2015 .

[11]  Juin-Yih Lai,et al.  Preparation of porous scaffolds by using freeze-extraction and freeze-gelation methods. , 2004, Biomaterials.

[12]  A. Wanner,et al.  Metal/ceramic composites from freeze-cast ceramic preforms: Domain structure and elastic properties , 2008 .

[13]  Toshio Suzuki,et al.  Morphology control and electrochemical properties of LiFePO4/C composite cathode for lithium ion batteries , 2012 .

[14]  Xiangyun Song,et al.  A comprehensive understanding of electrode thickness effects on the electrochemical performances of Li-ion battery cathodes , 2012 .

[15]  C. Knight,et al.  Fish antifreeze protein and the freezing and recrystallization of ice , 1984, Nature.

[16]  Tingting Xu,et al.  Synthesis and magnetoelectric effect of composites with CoFe2O4-epoxy embedded in 3–1 type porous PZT ceramics , 2015 .

[17]  A. Wanner,et al.  Damage evolution and domain-level anisotropy in metal/ceramic composites exhibiting lamellar microstructures , 2010 .

[18]  G. Frank,et al.  A Novel Production Method for Porous Sound‐Absorbing Ceramic Material for High‐Temperature Applications , 2011 .

[19]  Yuping Zeng,et al.  Effect of polyvinyl alcohol additive on the pore structure and morphology of the freeze-cast hydroxyapatite ceramics. , 2010, Materials science & engineering. C, Materials for biological applications.

[20]  W. Bonfield,et al.  Quantification of bone ingrowth within bone-derived porous hydroxyapatite implants of varying density , 1999, Journal of materials science. Materials in medicine.

[21]  S. Tsuda,et al.  Fabrication of Highly Porous Alumina Prepared by Gelation Freezing Route with Antifreeze Protein , 2013 .

[22]  Hyoun‐Ee Kim,et al.  Fabrication of Porous PZT–PZN Piezoelectric Ceramics With High Hydrostatic Figure of Merits Using Camphene‐Based Freeze Casting , 2007 .

[23]  Sarmimala Hore,et al.  Synthesis of Hierarchically Porous Carbon Monoliths with Highly Ordered Microstructure and Their Application in Rechargeable Lithium Batteries with High‐Rate Capability , 2007 .

[24]  J. Binner,et al.  Microstructure and property characterisation of 3-3 Al(Mg)/Al2O3 interpenetrating composites produced by a pressureless infiltration technique , 2010, Journal of Materials Science.

[25]  A. Husmann,et al.  Ice-templated structures for biomedical tissue repair: From physics to final scaffolds , 2014 .

[26]  Ferdi Schüth,et al.  Nanocasting: A Versatile Strategy for Creating Nanostructured Porous Materials , 2009 .

[27]  C. Pham‐Huu,et al.  High surface area silicon carbide doped with zirconium for use as catalyst support. Preparation, characterization and catalytic application , 1999 .

[28]  S. Sofie,et al.  A symmetrical, planar SOFC design for NASA's high specific power density requirements , 2007 .

[29]  J. Ulrich,et al.  Freeze-casting technique in the development of solid drug delivery systems , 2007 .

[30]  Paul V. Braun,et al.  Three-dimensional bicontinuous ultrafast-charge and -discharge bulk battery electrodes. , 2011, Nature nanotechnology.

[31]  André R. Studart,et al.  Processing Routes to Macroporous Ceramics: A Review , 2006 .

[32]  T. Ohji,et al.  Pore structure of porous ceramics synthesized from water-based slurry by freeze-dry process , 2001 .

[33]  A. Haymet,et al.  'Antifreeze' glycoproteins from polar fish. , 2003, European journal of biochemistry.

[34]  Okenwa I. Okoli,et al.  Processing and properties of advanced porous ceramics: An application based review , 2014 .

[35]  Siwei Wang,et al.  Low temperature solid oxide fuel cells with hierarchically porous cathode nano-network , 2014 .

[36]  H. Verweij,et al.  Homogeneous porous perovskite supports for thin dense oxygen separation membranes , 2000 .

[37]  J. Halloran,et al.  Porous Ceramics by Photopolymerization with Terpene–Acrylate Vehicles , 2012 .

[38]  Wenle Li,et al.  Freeze casting of porous materials: review of critical factors in microstructure evolution , 2012 .

[39]  B. Velamakanni,et al.  Method for processing metal-reinforced ceramic composites , 1990 .

[40]  Yet-Ming Chiang,et al.  Design of Battery Electrodes with Dual‐Scale Porosity to Minimize Tortuosity and Maximize Performance , 2013, Advanced materials.

[41]  J. Halloran,et al.  Room-Temperature Freeze Casting for Ceramics with Nonaqueous Sublimable Vehicles in the Naphthalene–Camphor Eutectic System , 2005 .

[42]  Chang‐an Wang,et al.  A novel way to fabricate tubular porous mullite membrane supports by TBA-based freezing casting method , 2013 .

[43]  Hyoun‐Ee Kim,et al.  Fabrication of porous titanium scaffolds with high compressive strength using camphene-based freeze casting , 2009 .

[44]  Justin C. Lytle,et al.  Photonic Crystal Structures as a Basis for a Three‐Dimensionally Interpenetrating Electrochemical‐Cell System , 2006 .

[45]  D. Dunand,et al.  Directionally freeze-cast titanium foam with aligned, elongated pores , 2008 .

[46]  M. Fukushima,et al.  Fabrication of Highly Porous Silica Thermal Insulators Prepared by Gelation–Freezing Route , 2014 .

[47]  A. Nagel,et al.  Internal load transfer in a metal matrix composite with a three-dimensional interpenetrating structure , 2011 .

[48]  P. Becher.  Microstructural design of toughened ceramics , 1991 .

[49]  Yuping Zeng,et al.  Preparation of porous TiO2 by a novel freeze casting , 2009 .

[50]  Yong Huang,et al.  Control of pore channel size during freeze casting of porous YSZ ceramics with unidirectionally aligned channels using different freezing temperatures , 2010 .

[51]  Ulrike G K Wegst,et al.  Biomaterials by freeze casting , 2010, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[52]  M. Awano,et al.  Preparation of NiO–YSZ tubular support with radially aligned pore channels , 2003 .

[53]  I. Nettleship,et al.  Effect of Polyethylene Glycol on the Microstructure of Freeze‐Cast Alumina , 2008 .

[54]  E. Çadırlı,et al.  Dependency of the microstructure parameters on the solidification parameters for camphene , 2000 .

[55]  T. Button,et al.  The effect of particle size in freeze casting of porous alumina–zirconia composite , 2013 .

[56]  A. Neubrand,et al.  Elastic constants of metal/ceramic composites with lamellar microstructures: Finite element modelling and ultrasonic experiments , 2009 .

[57]  F. Ye,et al.  Effect of solid content on pore structure and mechanical properties of porous silicon nitride ceramics produced by freeze casting , 2011 .

[58]  M. Fukushima,et al.  Fabrication and properties of ultra highly porous silicon carbide by the gelation–freezing method , 2010 .

[59]  Huanting Wang,et al.  Porous α-Al2O3 ceramics prepared by gelcasting , 1997 .

[60]  F. Doğan,et al.  Freeze casting of porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds. I. Processing and general microstructure. , 2008, Journal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials.

[61]  P. Ma,et al.  Poly(alpha-hydroxyl acids)/hydroxyapatite porous composites for bone-tissue engineering. I. Preparation and morphology. , 1999, Journal of biomedical materials research.

[62]  A. Neubrand,et al.  Mechanical characterisation of interpenetrating network metal–ceramic composites , 2010 .

[63]  Rajendra K. Bordia,et al.  Dispersion, connectivity and tortuosity of hierarchical porosity composite SOFC cathodes prepared by freeze-casting , 2015 .

[64]  V. Komlev,et al.  Porous hydroxyapatite ceramics of bi-modal pore size distribution , 2002, Journal of materials science. Materials in medicine.

[65]  H. Zhang,et al.  Aligned Porous Structures by Directional Freezing , 2007 .

[66]  J. Raymond,et al.  Adsorption inhibition as a mechanism of freezing resistance in polar fishes. , 1977, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[67]  J. Halloran,et al.  Porous Ceramic Bodies with Interconnected Pore Channels by a Novel Freeze Casting Technique , 2005 .

[68]  Andrew I. Cooper,et al.  Aligned two- and three-dimensional structures by directional freezing of polymers and nanoparticles , 2005, Nature materials.

[69]  Eduardo Saiz,et al.  Freeze casting of hydroxyapatite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. , 2006, Biomaterials.

[70]  Hyun-Do Jung,et al.  Fabrication of titanium scaffolds with porosity and pore size gradients by sequential freeze casting , 2009 .

[71]  Siddhartha Roy,et al.  In situ Study of Internal Load Transfer in a Novel Metal/Ceramic Composite Exhibiting Lamellar Microstructure Using Energy Dispersive Synchrotron X‐ray Diffraction , 2009 .

[72]  Yuping Zeng,et al.  Fabrication of Gradient Pore TiO2 Sheets by a Novel Freeze–Tape‐Casting Process , 2007 .

[73]  Sylvain Deville,et al.  Freeze-Casting of Porous Ceramics: A Review of Current Achievements and Issues , 2008, 1710.04201.

[74]  Robert Dominko,et al.  Wired Porous Cathode Materials: A Novel Concept for Synthesis of LiFePO4 , 2007 .

[75]  H. Awaji,et al.  Thermal Cyclic Fatigue Behavior of Porous Ceramics for Gas Cleaning , 2004 .

[76]  Jinlong Yang,et al.  Recent developments in gelcasting of ceramics , 2011 .

[77]  Mei-shuan Li,et al.  Porous Y2SiO5 Ceramic with Low Thermal Conductivity , 2012 .

[78]  Rui Guo,et al.  Enhanced piezoelectric property of porous lead zirconate titanate ceramics with one dimensional ordered pore structure , 2010 .

[79]  Eduardo Saiz,et al.  A novel biomimetic approach to the design of high-performance ceramic–metal composites , 2010, Journal of The Royal Society Interface.

[80]  Hyoun‐Ee Kim,et al.  Generation of Large Pore Channels for Bone Tissue Engineering Using Camphene-Based Freeze Casting , 2007 .

[81]  S. Tsuda,et al.  Type II Antifreeze Protein from a Mid-latitude Freshwater Fish, Japanese Smelt (Hypomesus nipponensis) , 2003, Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry.

[82]  Tingting Xu,et al.  Piezoelectric Properties of a Pioneering 3‐1 Type PZT/Epoxy Composites Based on Freeze‐Casting Processing , 2014 .

[83]  S. H. Lee,et al.  Improved compressive strength of reticulated porous zirconia using carbon coated polymeric sponge as novel template , 2006 .

[84]  Yong Huang,et al.  Ceramics with Special Porous Structures Fabricated by Freeze‐Gelcasting: Using tert‐Butyl Alcohol as a Template , 2007 .

[85]  S. Madihally,et al.  Porous chitosan scaffolds for tissue engineering. , 1999, Biomaterials.

[86]  Tingting Xu,et al.  Grain Orientation and Domain Configuration in 3-1 Type Porous PZT Ceramics with Ultrahigh Piezoelectric Properties , 2015 .

[87]  K. Zhou,et al.  Effects of alcohol additives on pore structure and morphology of freeze-cast ceramics , 2014 .

[88]  I. Nettleship,et al.  The effect of the molecular weight of polyethylene glycol on the microstructure of freeze-cast alumina , 2014 .

[89]  D J Mooney,et al.  Bone Regeneration via a Mineral Substrate and Induced Angiogenesis , 2004, Journal of dental research.

[90]  Yuping Zeng,et al.  Properties of Microstructure‐Controllable Porous Yttria‐Stabilized Ziroconia Ceramics Fabricated by Freeze Casting , 2008 .

[91]  Y. Shindo,et al.  NMR and FT-IR Studies of Hydrogen Bonds in Ethanol-Water Mixtures , 1995 .

[92]  A. Husmann,et al.  A design protocol for tailoring ice-templated scaffold structure , 2014, Journal of The Royal Society Interface.

[93]  D. Cree,et al.  Production and characterization of a three-dimensional cellular metal-filled ceramic composite , 2010 .

[94]  J. Gibmeier,et al.  Numerical study of internal load transfer in metal/ceramic composites based on freeze-cast ceramic preforms and experimental validation , 2013 .

[95]  S. Sofie,et al.  Freeze Casting of Aqueous Alumina Slurries with Glycerol , 2004 .

[96]  I G Turner,et al.  Fabrication of HA/TCP scaffolds with a graded and porous structure using a camphene-based freeze-casting method. , 2009, Acta biomaterialia.

[97]  K. Shung,et al.  Novel piezoelectric ceramic-polymer aligned composites via the freeze casting method for high frequency transducer applications , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium.

[98]  Weiming Su,et al.  Impregnation of porous mullite with Na2SO4 phase change material for thermal energy storage , 2015 .

[99]  Manabu Fukushima,et al.  Macroporous Ceramics by Gelation–Freezing Route Using Gelatin , 2014 .

[100]  S. Deville.  Freeze-Casting of Porous Biomaterials: Structure, Properties and Opportunities , 2010, Materials.

[101]  Dong-Woo Cho,et al.  A new method of fabricating robust freeform 3D ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue regeneration , 2013, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[102]  Rui Guo,et al.  Microstructure and Electrical Properties of Porous PZT Ceramics with Unidirectional Pore Channel Structure Fabricated by Freeze-Casting , 2012 .

[103]  Hyoun‐Ee Kim,et al.  Aligned porous alumina ceramics with high compressive strengths for bone tissue engineering , 2008 .

[104]  Influence of Particle Size on Ice Nucleation and Growth During the Ice‐Templating Process , 2010, 1805.01354.

[105]  Yu-Guo Guo,et al.  Superior Electrode Performance of Nanostructured Mesoporous TiO2 (Anatase) through Efficient Hierarchical Mixed Conducting Networks , 2007 .

[106]  J. Moulijn,et al.  High surface area silicon carbide as catalyst support characterization and stability , 1998 .

[107]  Dou Zhang,et al.  Lamellar BaTiO3 and its composites fabricated by the freeze casting technique , 2014 .

[108]  J. Ferreira,et al.  Nano‐TiO2‐Coated Unidirectional Porous Glass Structure Prepared by Freeze Drying and Solution Infiltration , 2007 .

[109]  Eduardo Saiz,et al.  Ice-templated porous alumina structures , 2007, 1710.04651.

[110]  Shichao Liu,et al.  A novel silica aerogel/porous Si3N4 composite prepared by freeze casting and sol-gel impregnation with high-performance thermal insulation and wave-transparent , 2015 .

[111]  C. Scott,et al.  Processing of porous ceramics , 1992 .

[112]  Robert Dominko,et al.  Mass and charge transport in hierarchically organized storage materials. Example: Porous active materials with nanocoated walls of pores , 2006 .

[113]  Haijiao Zhang,et al.  Pore structure and mechanical properties in freeze cast porous Si3N4 composites using polyacrylamide as an addition agent , 2010 .

[114]  Yumin Zhang,et al.  Freeze casting of aqueous alumina slurries with glycerol for porous ceramics , 2010 .

[115]  H. Zreiqat,et al.  Fabrication and characterization of a new, strong and bioactive ceramic scaffold for bone regeneration , 2013 .

[116]  Andrew J. Eckel,et al.  Regenerative Performance of the NASA Symmetrical Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Design , 2011 .

[117]  X. Zhu,et al.  Improvement in the Strut Thickness of Reticulated Porous Ceramics , 2004 .

[118]  P. Sepulveda.  Gelcasting foams for porous ceramics , 1997 .

[119]  Jong-Sung Yu,et al.  Ordered multimodal porous carbon with hierarchical nanostructure for high Li storage capacity and good cycling performance , 2010 .

[120]  Shichao Liu,et al.  Fabrication of a new SiC/2024Al co-continuous composite with lamellar microstructure and high mechanical properties , 2014 .

[121]  I. Heschel,et al.  Dendritic ice morphology in unidirectionally solidified collagen suspensions , 2000 .

[122]  Hyoun‐Ee Kim,et al.  In Situ Synthesis of Porous Silicon Carbide (SiC) Ceramics Decorated with SiC Nanowires , 2007 .

[123]  Bruce Dunn,et al.  Hierarchical battery electrodes based on inverted opal structures , 2002 .