A nanoporous material exhibiting a lamellar structure is disclosed. The
material comprises three or more substantially parallel sheets of an
organosilicate material, separated by highly porous spacer regions. The
distance between the centers of the sheets lies between 1 nm and 50 nm.
The highly porous spacer regions may be substantially free of condensed
material. For the manufacture of such materials, a process is disclosed
in which matrix non-amphiphilic polymeric material and templating
polymeric material are dispersed in a solvent, where the templating
polymeric material includes a polymeric amphiphilic material. The solvent
with the polymeric materials is distributed onto a substrate.
Organization is induced in the templating polymeric material. The solvent
is removed, leaving the polymeric materials in place. The matrix
polymeric material is cured, forming a lamellar structure.