Open-pore foam materials with guest phases, procedure for the preparation of these materials and uses thereof

A foam material comprising:

• a structural matrix,
• one or more guest phases made of a functional material in the form of a particle or a fiber wherein the particles or fibers are stacked one on top of each other and interstitial spaces between the particles or fibers filled with the structural matrix, and
• a fluid,
• wherein:
• the structural matrix is made up of a metal selected from the group consisting of tin, aluminum, copper, titanium, mixture and metal alloys thereof, and comprises a plurality of interconnected pores wherein the pores are in fluid communication with each other by an interconnection opening having a diameter that is not the same or larger than a diameter of the particle or fiber of the one or more guest phases, and wherein a wall of the pore has a shape matching and conforming to a shape of the particle or the fiber, the one or more guest phases are accommodated inside at least one pore of the structural matrix without maintaining any bond with said structural matrix such that between the wall of the pore of the foam material and the surface of the guest phase there is a gauge of space that is occupied by the fluid, and the fluid is accommodated inside the pores and surrounds the entirety of the one or more guest phases in the pore.