Advances in luminescent metal-organic framework sensors based on post-synthetic modification

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a crucial class of organic-inorganic hybrid crystals and exhibit attractive development prospects in many fields including luminescent sensing, catalysis, adsorption, and drug delivery. When employed as luminescent sensors, MOFs materials have some limitations, such as weak response signal and poor sensitivity. Post-synthetic modification (PSM) can especially enhance the sensing capabilities of MOFs and provide the possibility to design sensing materials with better performance. This review has been organized to introduce methods for the preparation of luminescent metal-organic frameworks (LMOFs) via PSM, including covalent PSM, dative PSM, encapsulated PSM, and tandem PSM schemes. Fluorescence response mechanisms and sensing applications in the detection of inorganic ions, biomolecules, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gas, nitroaromatic explosives, and other substances are discussed. This review also looks forward to the development of LMOFs prepared via PSM in the future sensing field.