Patent ID: 6911192

Claim:
A method for producing an inorganic porous body having macropores concurrently with mesopores, which comprises the steps of: (i) preparing a homogeneous solution by dissolving an amphiphilic substance as template component in an aqueous solution containing a sol-gel reaction catalyst, (ii) adding an inorganic low molecular weight compound having hydrolyzable functional groups to said homogeneous solution so as to cause a sol-gel reaction, thereby forming a gel of a continuous three-dimensional network structure composed of a solvent-rich phase which is rich in the solvent and a skeleton phase which is rich in an inorganic oxide polymer adhered to the surface of the amphiphilic substance wherein the inorganic oxide polymer is produced from said inorganic low molecular weight compound by the sol-gel reaction, (iii) drying said gel to remove the solvent from the solvent-rich phase by evaporation, thereby forming the macropores, and (iv) removing said template component from the dried gel by thermal decomposition or extraction, thereby forming the mesopores within the skeleton phase.