Recent progress in the synthesis of luminescent copper clusters

Luminescent metallic clusters have attracted great interest due to their unique optical, electronic and chemical features. Comparing with intensively studied Au and Ag Clusters, Cu clusters are superior in the aspects of cost and wide industrial demanding. However, tiny copper clusters are extremely prone to aggregate and undergo susceptibility of oxidation, thereby the synthesis of fluorescent zero valent copper clusters is rather challenging. In this review, synthetic strategies towards luminescent copper clusters, including macromolecule-protection and micro molecule-capping, have been systematically surveyed. Both "bottom-up" and "top-down" synthetic routes are found to be effective in fabricating luminescent copper clusters, some of which are quite stable and possess decent luminescence quantum yields. In general, the synthesis of fluorescent copper clusters remains at its infant stage. A great deal of effort on developing novel and economic synthetic routes to produce bright and stable copper clusters is highly expected in future.