Monolithic porous glasses with controlled mesopore size

Mesoporous sol-gel glasses may play the role of host materials to study the effect of confinement on fluid properties. A method based on a peculiar dr ying procedure of silica gels, followed by their partial densification by a heat treatment is described. Monolithic mesoporous glasses with a porosity exceeding 50%, a well defined pore size and a controlled surface roughness are obtained. N-2 adsorption-desorption and Small Angle X-ray Scattering t echniques are used to study the porous and solid texture, and the inner sur face roughness of these materials. Various samples of narrow pore size dist ribution with half width at half height under 2nm, and mean pore size below 25nm are obtained.