US Patent 7704754 - Creation of plasmon effects in materials

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7704754.html

This patent from American Environmental Systems proposes the use of semiconductor, metal, or metal oxide nanoparticles to facilitate environmental cleanup by inducing surface plasmon resonance which breaks down waste material. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of creating surface plasmon induced properties in materials comprising steps of:

providing a material;

providing a nanoparticle capable of creating a surface plasmon induced property in the material by interactions of surface plasmon electric fields of the excited nanoparticle with the material;

providing a surface plasmon source;

embedding the nanoparticle into the material by mixing the nanoparticle with the material or by allowing the nanoparticle to be adsorbed by the material; and

exciting the embedded nanoparticle by the surface plasmon source.