Structure-dependent luminescent copper nanoclusters: self-assembly and morphological evolution

Highly ordered metal nanoclusters (NCs) have attracted much attention due to their controllability and regularity. Herein, self-assembled CuNCs with orange-red emission were prepared using m-aminothiophenol (m-AT) within 10 s. The hydrogen bonding interactions of CuNCs@m-AT were controlled precisely by adjusting the pH, and this induced the continuous self-assembly process of monodisperse, nano-spheres, nano-meshes and nano-sheets, and established the relationship between the macrostates and the microstructures of CuNCs@m-AT. For the first time, an organic anion was used to induce the emission of CuNCs@m-AT and to carry out the phase transfer of CuNCs@m-AT from the aqueous phase to the n-butanol phase. In addition, we found that m-AT was more beneficial for the synthesis of CuNCs, compared to o-AT and p-AT. This work provides an example of the structure-dependent CuNCs@m-AT on luminescent properties and showed the potential of –NH2 in the design of superstructures of nanoscale materials with unique functions and properties.