Silica glass libers, preparation

The so-called template-based technique has been found to be particularly suitable for the synthesis of carbons whose porosity is not only uniform in size and shape, but also periodically ordered in some cases. In this approach, the porous carbon is prepared through infiltration of an organic precursor into the nanochannels of an appropriate inorganic material (the template), followed by carbonization and then liberation of the resultant carbon from the template. Different nanospaces in templates have been used to confine the carbon precursors. The first templates used included, e.g., silica gel or porous glass [84,85], layered clays such as montmorillonite ortaeniolite [86,87], or pillared clays [88-90]. Several detailed reviews on this topic have been published [75,91-95] that cover the areas of microporous and, especially, mesoporous solids. Here, some illustrative examples will he presented in some detail rather than reviewing systematically the literature. 

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