Silver nanoclusters are a class of fluorophores with attractive features, including brightness, photostability and subnanometer size. In this review we overview the different scaffolds that are used as stabilizer for silver nanoclusters (e.g. polymers, dendrimers, DNA oligomers, cryogenic noble gas matrixes, inorganic glasses, zeolites and nanoparticles), and we briefly discuss the recent advances.

Renewable high‐performance macroscopic functional fibers are prepared by a simple wet‐extrusion and coagulation process of hydrogels of native cellulose nanofibrils. The fibers are functionalized to be transparent, conducting, or magnetic and they can host and release guests as payloads. These biobased macrofibers provide a sustainable approach for high‐performance and functional fiber technology in 21st century technologies.

Colorful clusters: Silver nanoclusters consisting of only a few atoms exhibit large chemical-environment-responsive shifts of their optical absorption and emission bands, that is, large solvatochromism (see picture). The photophysical characteristics and electrochemiluminescence of the Ag clusters give them remarkable advantages over larger nanoparticles in applications such as molecular sensing.

Strongly luminescent silver nanoclusters with tunable emission are directly synthesized in organic polar and apolar solvents. We show that an amphiphilic polystyrene-block-poly(methacrylic acid) block copolymer can be universally used as their support medium. A remarkable similarity in spectroscopic properties is observed between these clusters and charge-transfer organic dyes.

Bunte Cluster: Die optischen Absorptions‐ und Emissionsbanden von Silbernanoclustern aus nur ein paar Atomen reagieren sehr empfindlich auf die chemische Umgebung, d. h., die Cluster sind ausgesprochen solvatochrom (siehe Bild). Mit ihren photophysikalischen Eigenschaften und ihrer Elektrochemilumineszenz haben die Ag‐Cluster deutliche Vorteile gegenüber größeren Nanopartikeln z. B. in molekularen Sensoranwendungen.magnified image