General synthesis of mesoporous spheres of metal oxides and phosphates

Monodisperse and high-surface-area mesoporous inorganic spheres of various compositions including metal oxides, mixed oxides, and metal phosphates are prepared by templating mesoporous carbon spheres which are replicated from spherical mesoporous silica. Due to the rigid and thermally stable framework of carbon template, the crystalline phases of the obtained metal oxide spheres can be readily tailored by controlling crystalline temperatures. Moreover, the sphere morphologies can be changed from solid structure to hollow structure in some cases by changing the polarity of the precursor, due to the hydrophobic nature of carbon template.