High-surface area inorganic compounds prepared by nanocasting techniques

This paper is a survey of the nanocasting methods used for the synthesis of nanosized and nanostructured inorganic compounds. Special attention is paid to the use of porous materials such as mesostructured silica, silica gel, and carbonaceous materials as hard templates for the preparation of metallic oxides. General aspects concerning the applications of materials obtained by hard-templating procedures are also reviewed.