Metal nanoclusters (MNCs) have ultrasmall size (≤3 nm), precise molecular structure, strong luminescence, size-sensitive physicochemical properties, engineerable metallic composition, and rich yet tailorable surface chemistry, enabling them to be promising for the construction of luminescent sensors for diversified sensing applications in fields of environmental protection, food safety, agriculture, disease diagnosis, biomarker identification, etc. However, a systematic summary is urgently needed to correlate the physicochemical properties of MNCs with their influences on sensing applications, to summarize the synthetic strategies of highly luminescent MNCs towards sensor construction, and to discuss the general configurations and sensing mechanisms of MNCs-based luminescent probes. In this review, we first discuss relevant physicochemical properties of MNCs that may have major influences on the sensing mechanisms/performance of MNCs-based luminescent sensors, and then summarize the main synthetic strategies of highly luminescent MNCs. Then, we briefly illustrate the general configurations of MNCs-based sensors, and elaborately clarify their sensing mechanisms with the exemplification of representative sensing applications. We conclude the review with our perspectives on the opportunities/challenges of MNCs-based luminescent sensors. It is believed that this review will shed light on the design of MNCs-based luminescent sensors for future sensing applications.

金属纳米团簇 (MNC) 具有超小尺寸 (≤3 nm)、精确的分子结构、强发光、尺寸敏感的物理化学性质、可工程化的金属成分以及丰富但可定制的表面化学性质，使其有望用于构建发光传感器多元化传感应用在环保、食品安全、农业、疾病诊断、生物标志物识别等领域. 然而，迫切需要系统总结 MNCs 的物理化学性质及其对传感应用的影响，总结高发光 MNCs 对传感器构建的合成策略，并讨论基于 MNCs 的发光探针的一般配置和传感机制. 在这篇综述中，我们首先讨论了可能对基于 MNCs 的发光传感器的传感机制/性能产生重大影响的 MNCs 的相关物理化学性质，然后总结了高发光 MNCs 的主要合成策略。然后，我们简要说明了基于跨国公司的传感器的一般配置，并通过代表性传感应用的示例详细阐明了它们的传感机制。我们以我们对基于跨国公司的发光传感器的机遇/挑战的看法结束了审查。相信这篇综述将为未来传感应用的基于跨国公司的发光传感器的设计提供启示。