US Patent 7482163 - Chemical reactivity determination for nanoparticles

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7482163.html

Due to their high surface-to-volume ratio metal nanoparticles such as platinum serve as excellent catalysts for the manufacture of fuels, polymers and drugs. This patent from Nanostellar teaches a method for characterizing the reactivity to achieve better process control. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of estimating chemical reactivity of a particle, comprising the steps of:

determining size and shape of the particle;

approximating atomic energy densities at various locations of atoms in the particle;

calculating local chemical softness values at said various locations of atoms based on the atomic energy densities;

calculating an average surface chemical softness of the particle based on the local chemical softness values; and

estimating the chemical reactivity of the particle based on the average surface chemical softness value of the particle.