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Towards Green Synthesis of Fluorescent Metal Nanoclusters

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Abstract

In the modern development of nanoscience and nanotechnology, metal nanoclusters have emerged as a foremost category of nanomaterials exhibiting remarkable biocompatibility and photo-stability having dramatically distinctive optical, electronic, and chemical properties. This review focuses on synthesizing fluorescent metal nanoclusters in a greener way to make them suitable for biological imaging and drug delivery application. The green methodology is the desired route for sustainable chemical production and should be utilized for any form of chemical synthesis including nanomaterials. It aims to eliminate harmful waste, uses non-toxic solvents, and employs energy-efficient processes for the synthesis. This article provides an overview of conventional synthesis methods, including stabilizing nanoclusters by small organic molecules in organic solvents. Then we focus on the improvement of properties, applications of green synthesized metal nanoclusters, challenges involved, and further advancement required in the direction of green synthesis of MNCs. There are plenty of problems for scientists to solve to make nanoclusters suitable for bio-applications, chemical sensing, and catalysis synthesized by green methods. Using bio-compatible and electron-rich ligands, understanding ligand–metal interfacial interactions, employing more energy-efficient processes, and utilizing bio-inspired templates for synthesis are some immediate problems worth solving in this field that requires continued efforts and interdisciplinary knowledge and collaboration.

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Acknowledgements

R.M. is thankful to the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India, for providing a stipend. R. M. and N. G. thank the Department of Chemistry, Netaji Subash University of Technology (NSUT) for providing infrastructure. We thank Professor Saptarshi Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal, India for his valuable suggestion.

Funding

Author R.M. has received research support from the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India (Grant number -CSIRAWARD/JRF-NET2021/113630). The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, Dwarka Sector-3, Dwarka, Delhi, 110078, India

    Ritika Mittal & Nancy Gupta

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Ritika Mittal has performed the literature search and drafted and critically revised the work. Nancy Gupta has contributed to the conceptualization and critical revision of the work. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Mittal, R., Gupta, N. Towards Green Synthesis of Fluorescent Metal Nanoclusters. J Fluoresc 33, 2161–2180 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-023-03229-9

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