Patent ID: 6562744
Filing Date: 2003-05-13
Classification: B01J,G01N,Y10T

Abstract:
A process for producing an article comprising an inorganic porous material contained in a container having a confined space of at least one dimension less than 1 mm, which comprises:providing an aqueous acidic solution comprising a water-soluble organic polymer, a thermally decomposable component and a metal compound having thermally hydrolyzable ligands, such that a sol-gel process of hydrolysis and polycondensation is initiated, either before or during the hydrolysis and polycondensation, filling at least part of the confined space of the container with the solution and allowing the hydrolysis and polycondensation to continue such that a three-dimensional co-continuous network of an inorganic gel phase and a solvent phase, both having a diameter of larger than 100 nm is formed from the solution, heating the container with the three-dimensional co-continuous network to decompose the thermally decomposable component, thereby modifying the nanometer-range microstructures, drying and heat-treating the resulting container with the three-dimensional co-continuous network to obtain a completely inorganic, solid porous material in liquid tight contact with the inner wall(s) of the confined space of the container.