Patent ID: 8906984

Claim:
A method of synthesizing a nanoparticle-embedded polymer composite, the method comprising: (a) mixing a metal precursor and a solvent to form a metal salt, wherein the molar concentration of the metal precursor in the solvent is in the range between 1×10 −5 and about 5×10 −2 , wherein the metal precursor is selected from the group consisting of silver benzoate, chloroauric acid, palladium acetylacetonate, cobalt acetylacetonate, nickel acetylacetonate, iron carbonyl, nickel carbonyl, and cobalt carbonyl, and wherein the formed metal salt comprises a metal selected from the group consisting of silver, gold, palladium, platinum, copper, cobalt, nickel, iron, and combinations thereof; (b) combining a polymerizable material, a polymerizing agent, and the metal salt to form a mixture, wherein the polymerizable material is selected from the group consisting of (i) polydimethylsiloxane, (ii) polystyrene, (iii) poly(methyl methacrylate), (iv) polyvinyl acetate, (v) polyethylene, (vi) monomers and oligomers that polymerize to form the polymers of (i)-(v), and combinations thereof, and wherein the polymerizable material and the polymerizing agent are combined in a weight ratio in the range between about 2:1 and about 10:1; and (c) forming the nanoparticle-embedded polymer composite by (i) polymerizing the polymerizable material to form a polymer, wherein the polymerizing occurs at a temperature in the range between about room temperature and about 100° C., (ii) reducing the metal salt to form nanoparticles embedded within the polymer, wherein the polymerizing agent polymerizes the polymerizable material to form the polymer and reduces the metal salt to form the nanoparticles, and (iii) heating the polymer after the polymerization step, wherein the heating is performed at a temperature in the range between about 150° C. and about 300° C., and wherein the heating decomposes the metal salt to form nanoparticles.