One of the biggest challenges in the field of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) is to disperse high nanofiller loadings into the polymeric matrix. The high loading and uniform dispersion are limited by the unfavored polymer/nanofiller thermodynamics and the tendency for nanofiller to aggregate. In this thesis, these are circumvented by using nanoporous gold (NPG) as a scaffold for polymers to fill. The ultra-high loading (>50 vol%) is achieved by infiltrating polymer melts into NPG to produce a polymer infiltrated nanoporous gold (PING) composite. This novel composite provides promises for the next generation advanced materials for coating, optical sensors, actuators, and batteries. This thesis contributes to the better understanding of polymer kinetics under moderate confinement by varying the interfacial energy between polymer and pore wall and investigating the temperature dependence of infiltration. Confinement enhances polymer kinetics while decreasing the infiltration time dependence on Mw due to the combined effect of loss in entanglement and adsorbed chain fraction. When polymer and the wall interfacial energy is stronger, a physiosorbed layer forms, resulting in slower kinetics compared to that for weaker interfacial energy. The temperature dependence of the polymer kinetics inside NPG follows the bulk WLF behavior at lower confinement degrees, while the kinetics deviate from the bulk WLF at higher confinement levels due to the decrease in thermal expansion coefficient. Those fundamental studies on polymer kinetics enable the optimization of preparing PING composites for the use of industrial scale applications and encourage additional studies such as ion conductivities of PING. The optical properties study established UV-Vis spectroscopy as a new approach to track polymer kinetics while simultaneously broadening the potential PING applications to optically responsive membranes. This thesis presents a pathway of fabricating PING composite while kinetics studies as well as the optical study enable scientists to better understand polymers behavior under confinement and advance the toolbox for creating interconnected polymer/filler systems at high filler concentrations.