In this thesis, we used the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to study the binding energy of fluorescent gold nanoclusters (NCs) with capping dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA). We demonstrate that the red fluorescent of gold NCs are attributed to sulfur atoms bound to gold surface as thiolate species. In additon, we study the mechanism of up-conversion photoluminescence (PL) in red fluorescent gold NCs by silica coating. According to the dependence of the excitation density, we suggest that the up-conversion PL is generated by the two-photon absorption process. Rate equations were used to explain the inter-carrier transfer in the temperature dependence of the up-conversion PL studies.