The structure and application portfolio of intricately architected silver cluster-assembled materials

Silver Cluster-Assembled Materials (SCAMs) represent a new frontier of crystalline extended solids hallmarked by their customizable structures, commendable stabilities, and unique physical/chemical properties. Since their discovery in 2017, the diversity of organic linkers has endowed SCAMs with ingenious architectures and the application scenario has expanded beyond photoluminescence sensing to environmental sustainability and biomedical applications. It is critically important to chronicle these recent key advances and review the progress of SCAMs that can enable translating the material discoveries into real implementation. Herein, we provide a succinct overview of the trajectory of SCAM research, with crucial insights into atomic-level structural correlations with the phenomena at the nanoscale and discuss the gaps and opportunities that are still open in addition to charting a roadmap for future research directions.