Fig. 1: A brief illustration of the evolution of porous materials through the ages.

Ancient civilizations throughout the world used porous materials for medicine (left), and in the 18^th century (middle), scientific study of these materials began. Modern scientific research has benefited and built upon this historical field and developed next-generation materials for applications such as carbon capture and clean energy (right). Note: Photographs of coal and natural zeolite used with the permission of Getty Images.