| abstract |
A novel method for producing porous inorganic materials, in which the pore sizes in the porous inorganic materials to be produced and also the pore size distribution therein can be freely controlled, is disclosed. The use of non-ionic surfactants as pore forming agents in sol-gel processes for the manufacture of porous inorganic material is disclosed. Furthermore the use of precursors of matrix dissolving agents or thermolyzable compounds, such as urea, formamide, N-methylformamide, N,N-dimethylformamide, acetamide, N-methylacetamide or N,N-dimethylacetamide are disclosed. The porous inorganic materials are produced by a sol-gel process whereby a metal compound having a hydrolyzable functional group is hydrolyzed in the presence of a pore forming agent and optionally a precursor of a matrix dissolving agent, the resulting product is solidified. Then optionally mesopores are produced by the action of a matrix dissolving agent. Finally, the gel is dried and further heated. |