Luminescent Metal Nanoclusters

Currently, nanomaterials have attracted significant interest in various fields such as biomedical, electrical and optical owing to their unique physical and chemical properties. Luminescent metal nanoclusters are nanoclusters with fluorescent emission behavior. The Photo-luminescence (PL) is one of the unique properties of the metal nanoclusters and this property is exploited for various PL-based applications, such as chemical sensing, bio-imaging, cell labeling, phototherapy, drug delivery, and so on.

Luminescent Metal Nanoclusters aims to provide a comprehensive account of the various protocols used for the synthesis of metal nanoclusters, their characterization techniques, toxicity evaluation and various applications and future prospects. The book provides the detailed experimental routes along with mechanisms on the formation of benign metallic clusters using biomaterials and a comprehensive review regarding the preparation, properties and prospective applications of these nano clusters in various fields including therapeutic applications. Various methods to protect nanocluster materials to increase their stability are emphasized including the incorporation of ligands (protein, small molecule, DNA, thiols). Luminescent Metal Nanoclusters addresses a gap in the current literature by bringing together the preparation, characterization, applications of all the possible types of reported metal nanoclusters and their hybrids.

This book is suitable for materials scientists and engineers in academia and working in research and development in industry. It may also be of interest to those working in the interdisciplinary nanotechnology community such as physical chemists.