Polymer- and dendrimer-protected metal nanoclusters

As a representative of new luminescent nanomaterials, metal nanoclusters (MNCs) have attracted much attention due to their excellent optical properties. MNCs (such as gold, silver, copper, and some alloys NCs) are molecule-like NCs in which several to dozens or even hundreds of atoms form their nuclei and the surfaces are stabilized by specific ligand molecules. The surface ligands play a decisive role in the synthesis and properties of NCs. Polymer ligands have a series of advantages such as easy modifiability, good stability, and strong protection. In this chapter, polymer and dendrimer-protected MNCs are reviewed, and detailed discussions on different kinds of polymer ligands and optical properties of the polymer-protected NCs are presented with a special focus on the last decade.