White-light-emitting devices are successfully fabricated by using solid-state copper nanoclusters as the sole phosphors with aggregation-induced emission properties.
A host–guest recognition regulated aggregation-induced emission strategy is developed based on cyclodextrin-functionalized copper nanoclusters for long-term imaging of protein.
We demonstrate a novel strategy to synthesize highly stable and luminescent mercaptoimidazole-capped copper nanoclusters (CuNCs). Simple modification of substituents on the mercaptoimidazole ligand dictates the self-assembly and photophysical properties of the clusters.