Patent ID: 7973094

Claim:
A method of laser addressed localized heating to promote chemical transformations of a material, comprising the steps of: immobilizing a plurality of metal nanoparticles on a polymer support to form a nanoparticle coated support or physically blending said metal nanoparticles with a polymer to form a nanoparticle/polymer composite, said polymer being optically transmissive in a given operating wavelength range; placing said material in proximity to said coated support or said composite, wherein said material is different from said polymer support or different from said polymer; and irradiating said coated support or said composite with photons in said operating wavelength range from a laser source, wherein said metal nanoparticles addressed by said laser preferentially absorb said photons and transfer heat to said material in proximity to said metal nanoparticles, wherein a thermally induced polymerization occurs to said material to form a polymerized product, and physically separating said coated support or said composite including said metal nanoparticles from said polymerized product.