Gold nanomaterials have emerged as versatile systems which hold a great promise for several biomedical applications. Among them, gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) — ultra-small nanoparticles— have gained attention due to their unique optical and electronic properties arising from their small size, quantum confinement effects, and surface ligands. Their biocompatibility, efficient renal clearance, photoluminescence (PL), and catalytic activity make them great candidates for practical biomedical applications, such as bioimaging and therapy. In this review, we devote our attention to the burgeoning research in this area focusing on three main and highly intertwined topics. First, we present the different methods for AuNC synthesis alongside the key properties of AuNCs (magnetism, catalytic activity, and PL). This is followed by a description on how to fine-tune PL as their key optical property. Lastly, the potential applications of AuNCs are discussed in detail, with a particular focus on sensing, bioimaging, and on nanomedicine.

金纳米材料已成为一种多功能系统，在多种生物医学应用中具有广阔的前景。其中，金纳米团簇（AuNC）——超小纳米粒子——因其小尺寸、量子限制效应和表面配体而具有独特的光学和电子特性而受到关注。它们的生物相容性、高效的肾脏清除率、光致发光 (PL) 和催化活性使它们成为生物成像和治疗等实际生物医学应用的绝佳候选者。在这篇综述中，我们将注意力集中在这一领域的新兴研究，重点关注三个主要且高度交织的主题。首先，我们介绍了 AuNC 合成的不同方法以及 AuNC 的关键特性（磁性、催化活性和 PL）。接下来描述如何微调 PL 作为其关键光学特性。最后，详细讨论了 AuNC 的潜在应用，特别关注传感、生物成像和纳米医学。