High-temperature nanoporous ceramic monolith prepared from a polymeric bicontinuous microemulsion template

Nanoporous ceramic with a unique pore structure was derived from an all-hydrocarbon polymeric bicontinuous microemulsion (BμE). The BμE was designed to allow facile removal of one phase, resulting in a nanoporous polymer monolith with BμE-like structure. The pores were filled with a commercially available, polymeric precursor to nonoxide, Si-based ceramics. Pyrolysis resulted in a monolith of nanoporous ceramic, stable to at least 1000 °C, with a BμE-like pore structure. The pore structure is disordered and 3-D continuous. Microscopy and gas sorption measurements suggest a well-defined pore size distribution spanning roughly 60μ100 nm, sizes previously unattainable through related techniques.