Synthesis of silica-stabilized Ag clusters aided by a designed mercaptosilane ligand.

The novel and precise design of both a microscopic ligand and macroscopic structure has been demonstrated to improve the stability and potential optical applications of Ag clusters. The ligand with designed silane substituents on its thiophenol enabled the synthesized [Ag(SPhSi(OEt))](PPh) clusters to maintain UV-vis absorption for 13 h when heated at 60 °C in air and be readily coated with silica shells a one-pot reverse microemulsion method. This composite structure overcomes the issue that non-luminescent Ag clusters cannot be applied in photothermal and photoacoustic imaging due to their instability.