Application of Plasmon excitation for the initiation of thermal reactions under mild conditions

微小的贵金属颗粒，如金纳米颗粒具有独特的颜色。黄金的颗粒是红色的，几个世纪以来一直被用作陶瓷和彩色玻璃的颜料。最近发现，当这些颗粒被可见光（例如阳光）照射时，可以引起通常需要高温才能在温和的室温条件下发生的化学反应。该项目旨在利用金属纳米颗粒的这种不寻常的特性来减少进行化学转化所需的能量，例如用于制造用于药物、染料和塑料的有机分子的化学转化。

Minute noble metal particles, such as gold nanoparticles have characteristic colour. In the case of gold the particles are red and have been used for centuries as pigments for ceramics and stained glasses. It has been recently discovered that these particles, when illuminated with visible light (e.g. sunlight) can cause chemical reactions that normally require high temperatures to occur under mild, room temperature conditions. This project aims at utilizing this unusual property of metal nanoparticles to reduce the energy required to carry out chemical transformations, such as those used to make organic molecules for pharmaceuticals, dyes and plastics.