Nanocomposites, Metal-Filled

Because of surface effects and the dramatic changes in properties that occur when the critical length governing some phenomenon (eg, magnetic, structural) becomes comparable with size, metal clusters have unique characteristics (eg, plasmon absorption, near-IR photoluminescence, superparamagnetism). The embedding of metal clusters into polymeric matrices represents a simple way to take advantage of mesoscopic metal characteristics. Polymer-embedded metal clusters represent a new class of advanced composite materials that may find important applications in different technological areas.