A microporous material is a material containing pores with typical sizes less than 2 nm in diameter. Microporous materials, like mesoporous materials, are a subset of nanoporous materials. Examples of microporous materials include zeolites and metal-organic frameworks.
Porous materials are classified into several kinds by their size. The recommendations of a panel convened by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) are:
Micropores may be defined differently in other contexts. For example, in the context of porous aggregations such as soil, micropores are defined as cavities with sizes less than 30 μm.