Recent progress in atomically precise metal nanoclusters: From bio-related properties to biological applications

Atomically precise noble metal nanoclusters (e.g. gold and silver nanoclusters), consisting of a few to a hundred atoms, have emerged as promising materials in the field of nanoscience and life science. They have attracted significant interest owing to their discrete energy levels, intriguing molecular-like behaviors, and unique bio-related properties such as controllable optical absorption, adjustable photoluminescence, circularly polarized luminescence and clusterzyme activity, which can be tailored through tuning the size, composition distribution and types of the capping agents. These valuable bio-related properties of noble metal nanoclusters with defined structures have ensured them to become an emerging…