Soft templating is a technique used in the synthesis of materials, particularly in the creation of porous structures. Unlike hard templating, which involves rigid templates like silica or polystyrene beads, soft templating utilizes flexible, often organic, molecules such as surfactants, block copolymers, or other self-assembling organic compounds. These soft templates guide the formation of the desired structure and are usually removed after the material synthesis is complete, leaving behind a porous framework.
