[...]... nanocrystals is their size-dependent properties The electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of a nanocrystal depend on its size [3] In small nanocrystals, the electronic energy levels are Metal- Polymer Nanocomposites, Edited by Luigi Nicolais and Gianfranco Carotenuto ISBN 0-4 7 1-4 713 1-3 Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Inc 1 2 PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF NANO-SIZED METAL PARTICLES not continuous... of the small particles ( . Belotelov, P. Perlo, and A. K. Zvezdin v 8 OPTICAL EXTINCTION OF METAL NANOPARTICLES SYNTHESIZED IN POLYMER BY ION IMPLANTATION 241 A. L. Stepanov 9 OPTICALLY ANISOTROPIC METAL POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES. nanocom- posite material was obtained in the form of a purple solid simply by co- precipitation with ethanol. Around 1900, widely forgotten reports describe the vii preparation of polymer nanocomposites. by dispersing metal nanoparticles in polymeric thin films and subsequently reorganizing the dis- persed phase into pearl-necklace arrays by solid-state drawing at a temperature below the polymer