Atomically Precise Clusters of Noble Metals: Emerging Link between Atoms and Nanoparticles

(often with a few counterions to compensate charges) are known now. They can be made reproducibly with robust synthetic protocols, resulting in colored solutions, yielding powders or diffractable crystals. They are distinctly different from nanoparticles in their spectroscopic properties such as optical absorption and emission, showing well-defined features, just like molecules. They show isotopically resolved molecular ion peaks in mass spectra and provide diverse information when examined through multiple instrumental methods. Most important of these properties is luminescence, often in the visible-near-infrared window, useful in biological applications. Luminescence in the visible region, especially by…

• DO
  Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
• II
  Indian Institute of Technology Madras