A Mini Review on Controlling the Size of Ag Nanoclusters by Changing the Stabilizer to Ag Ratio and by Changing DNA Sequence

Abstract

Ag nanoclusters have received considerable attention in the past decade due to their distinguished photo-physical properties, which lead to very wide potential applications for biosensing and imaging. To this point, synthesis of well-defined Ag nanoclusters for practical applications is a key issue, in particular, controlling the size (or specific number of silver atoms) of Ag nanoclusters. Herein, we briefly discuss the effect of ratio of reactants, in terms of specific functional groups, on the size of Ag nanoclusters. Also, taking DNA as an example of biopolymer, we review how the DNA sequence can affect the specific number of Ag atoms in Ag nanoclusters. These conducted principles should provide significant guidance for preparation of Ag nanoclusters of precise size.