Oriented nanocomposites of ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene and gold

Polymer nanocomposites were prepared by mixing ultrahigh-molecular-weight p olyethylene and Sold colloids coated with a self-assembled monolayer of dod e-canethiol. Subsequently, these materials were oriented by solid state dra wing which induced the formation of uniaxially oriented arrays of gold part icles. As a result of the orientation of the gold arrays, the VIS-NIR spect ra of the drawn composites strongly depended in polarized light on the angl e between polarization direction and the orientation axis of the particle a rrays, with shifts in the absorption maxima up to ca. 100 nm. It is assumed that these color shifts originated from the small dimensions of the disper sed metal phase in combination with their uniaxial orientation.