Modification and Assembly of Copper Clusters

Copper clusters have attracted considerable interest because of their unique characteristics, extraordinary properties, and significant applications in catalysis, biological imaging, and sensing. However, the main challenge in the application of copper clusters is their stability. Surface-protecting ligands and assembly are important in the synthesis of stable clusters and for manipulating their properties. Surface ligands with high metal binding affinities are widely used in the construction of stable copper clusters, such as thiolate, phosphine, and alkynyl ligands. Assembling clusters into cluster-based assembly materials with rigid organic linkers is effective for improving the stability of cluster materials.