Patent ID: 8779030

Claim:
A metal nanoparticle containing composition, comprising: a dye, wherein the dye comprises a metal or an ion that absorbs photons with wavelengths ranging from 300 nm to 1.5 μm; a metal salt; at least one of a sacrificial donor and a matrix, and a mixture of two or more ligand coated metal nanoparticles included with the dye, the metal salt, and said at least one of a sacrificial donor and a matrix, with at least two of the two or more ligand coated metal nanoparticles comprising a first ligand coated metal nanoparticle coated with a first ligand set and a second ligand coated metal nanoparticle coated a second ligand set, the first ligand set and the second ligand set comprising different chemical moieties, wherein each of the first ligand set and the second ligand set comprises at least one organic ligand represented by the formula A-B-C, wherein A comprises a molecular or an ionic fragment for attachment to metal nanoparticle surface, B comprises an organic fragment that has two points of attachment, and C comprises a molecular fragment with one point of attachment to the organic fragment.