MESOPOROUS MATERIALS BY TEMPLATING OF LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE PHASES

The first mesoporous materials (pore diameter between 20 and 100 Angst rom) were discovered just five years ago. A new approach to mesoporous materials by direct templating of lyotropic liquid crystals is review ed and compared with strategies reported previously, The direct templa ting method is shown to be very versatile. It is suggested that the re sulting materials can almost be termed ''second generation'' mesoporou s materials, owing to the broad variety of mesoporous structure and si ze, high degree of ordering, and low incidence of defects.