Antimicrobial Gold Nanoclusters

Bulk gold (Au) is known to be chemically inactive. However, when the size of Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) decreases to close to 1 nm or sub-nanometer dimensions, these ultrasmall Au nanoclusters (Au NCs) begin to possess interesting physical and chemical properties and likewise spawn different applications when working with bulk Au or even Au NPs. In this study, we found that it is possible to confer antimicrobial activity to Au NPs through precise...