The present invention relates to a clustered nanocrystal network comprising a core comprising a metal or a semiconductive compound or mixture thereof and at least one polythiol ligand, wherein said core is surrounded by at least one polythiol ligand, and wherein each core surrounded by at least one polythiol ligand is crosslinked with at least one another polythiol ligand stabilizing another core. Furthermore, the present invention relates to nanocrystal composites comprising clustered nanocrystal networks. Clustered nanocrystal networks according to the present invention can be prepared by one-pot synthesis and can be embedded into the polymer matrix to form high quality and stable nanocrystal composites.