A review on template assisted synthesis of multi-functional metal oxide nanostructures: Status and prospects

•Template-assisted synthetic approach for the preparation of metal oxide (MOx) nanostructures using hard and soft template materials has been discussed.•Template material acts as a surface directing agent by manoeuvring the crystal growth and nucleation for the fabrication of micro to nano sized mesoporous material.•Template assisted synthetic protocols led to the formation of metal oxide nanostructures having well-defined morphology and shape, uniform pore size with high surface area.•The corelation of template structure with MOx properties for the targeted application of nanostructures has been deliberated.