General introduction—luminescent metal nanoclusters

Noble metal nanoclusters (NMNCs) are subnanometer core-sized materials made up of several tens of metal atoms. For the past decades the synthesis of luminescent MCs has received great interest for research, owing to their unique physicochemical properties and great contributions to catalysis, electrical, and biomedical applications. This chapter briefly summarizes the general features of NMNCs, ligand stabilized synthesis protocols, the advantage of NCs over nanoparticle and its potential applications in different fields like environment, catalysis, and especially in the biomedical field. At the end of this chapter, the overview of this book and a brief outline of each chapter are provided.