Siliceous materials were prepared by adding one or more additives,
including one or more water soluble polymers, and derivatives thereof, as
well as trifunctional silanes, to sols containing tetraalkoxysilanes
derived from polyols. The polymers facilitate phase separation of the
growing silica gel matrix, leading to high surface area self-supporting
silica gels with cure occurring at ambient temperatures. The materials
also show a significant reduction in shrinkage properties and significant
protein stabilization abilities.