Aqueous solutions containing tannin, crosslinker and surfactant were used for transferring
tech niques used to produce foods such as mayonnaise, whipedcream and meringue, to
the preparation of ne w kinds of cellular carbons. Emulsion-templating, i.e. leaching ahar dened
‘‘mayonnaise’ ’ for removing the oil followed by pyrolysis led to carbonpolyHIPEs
(polymerised High Internal Phase Emulsions).The second kind of materials, obtained by
whipping the emulsions, presented hie rarchical porous structures made of cells whose
wal ls had a polyHIPE texture . The third kind, obtained bywhipping un til stiff oil-free tannin
solutions, was carbon ‘‘meringues’ ’ whose cell sizes were controlled bytannin
concentration.