Patent ID: 8277829

Claim:
A method for producing a biocompatible inorganic porous material having a three-dimensional network of coexistent interconnected macropores and nanopores, which method comprises steps of: mixing an organic water-soluble polymer, an alkoxysilane, and an inorganic water-soluble calcium salt in an aqueous acid solution, such that a sol-gel process of hydrolysis and polycondensation is initiated and thereby producing a gel; drying said gel to remove solvent by evaporation; and heating said gel to remove said polymer by thermal decomposition, thereby forming an inorganic porous bioactive material, that is characterized by interconnected multimodal porosity including nanopores of about 5 to about 40 nm in size, macropores from about 1 μm to about 300 μm in size, corresponding to a volume fraction of porosity between about 38 to about 67 percent, as determined by a porisimetry method selected from the group consisting of mercury intrusion porisimetry and nitrogen adsorption porisimetry.