Patent ID: 7879935

Claim:
A method for making a polymer nanocomposite comprising: a. mixing and reacting an aqueous solution of a metal containing salt with a non-aqueous solution of a thiol to form a metal thiolate in the non-aqueous solution; b. collecting the metal thiolate non-aqueous solution; c. dissolving the collected non-aqueous solution of step b in a non-aqueous polymer solution; and d. (1) mixing and reacting the solution from step c with a cleaving agent and drying to form the polymer nanocomposite, wherein the cleaving agent reacts with the metal thiolate to form metal salt nanoparticles, and wherein the metal salt nanoparticles are distributed substantially evenly in the polymer nanocomposite; or (2) drying the solution from step c and then mixing with a cleaving agent to form the polymer nanocomposite, wherein the cleaving agent reacts with the metal thiolate to form metal salt nanoparticles, and wherein the metal salt nanoparticles are distributed substantially evenly in the polymer nanocomposite.