Nanoscale metal particles dispersed in polymer matrix

Nanoscale Au, Ag and Pd particles dispersed in nylon 11 thin film matrix have been prepared by a vacuum evaporation technique followed by heat treatment. The metals vapor deposited on the nylon 11 surface could be dispersed in the matrix layer by the heat treatment at temperature above the glass transition temperature of nylon 11 matrix, with the effect of the structural relaxation of nylon molecules. The metal nanoparticles were well isolated individually and the mean size of the particles were increased with increasing the amount of metal deposition. The XPS depth profiling technique has shown that metal particles were also dispersed homogeneously in the depth scales of the matrix upon heat treatment. The absorption peak due to the surface plasmon resonance of Au and Ag particles shifted toward lower energy region as the thickness of the nylon matrix decreased, which can be due to dipole interaction of dispersed nanoparticles. (C) 1998 Acta Metallurgica Inc.