Abstract Fluorescent gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) were incorporated into porous calcium carbonate spheres through electrostatic interaction. The resulting CaCO 3/AuNCs hybrid material exhibited interesting properties, such as porous structure, excellent biocompatibility, good water solubility, and degradability. These properties make the CaCO 3/AuNCs hybrid material a promising template to assemble horseradish peroxidase/antibody conjugates ( ...