Preparation of solid with well-defined porous structure

摘要

Preparation of a solid with a well-defined porous structure comprises reacting a template made from latex particles with a precursor, followed by separation of any liquid and removal of the template. Preparation of a porous solid comprises: (1) forming a fluid mixture comprising a template and one or more precursors for the solid, (2) reacting the precursor(s), (3) optionally removing liquid components from the mixture, and (4) removing the template. The template comprises latex particles. Used in preparation of materials with two types of pore; the larger pores are 10 nm - 1 mu m in diameter while the second type have a diameter of 2-60 nm (claimed). Such materials are used in separation techniques, heterogeneous catalysis, sensors (e.g. in transmission electron microscopy or narrow angle X-ray scattering techniques) or optical or electronic elements (all claimed). The R groups may be functionalized (e.g. with Cl, Br, F or CN groups) to allow coupling to biological substances such as antibodies.