A mesoporous metal oxide materials with a chiral organization; and a method for producing it, in the method a polymerizable metal oxide precursor is condensed inside the pores of chiral nematic mesoporous silica by the so-called “hard templating” method. As a specific example, mesoporous titanium dioxide is formed inside of a chiral nematic silica film templated by nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC). After removing the silica template such as by dissolving the silica in concentrated aqueous base, the resulting product is a mesoporous titania with a high surface area. These mesoporous metal oxide materials with high surface area and chiral nematic structures that lead to photonic properties may be useful for photonic applications as well as enantioselective catalysis, photocatalysis, photovoltaics, UV filters, batteries, and sensors.