Solid-State Luminescence Turn-On Sensing Using MOF-Confined Reporter-Spacer-Receptor Architectures Facilitated by...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Sensing
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Reporter-spacer-receptor (RSR) molecular turn-on sensors are widely used but struggle in solid-state applications.
• Developing solid-state sensors is crucial for practical device fabrication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel solid-state luminescence turn-on sensor.
• To overcome the limitations of traditional RSR sensors in solid-state applications.
• To demonstrate a new strategy for sensor fabrication within metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

Main Methods:

• Assembling RSR architectures within MOF frameworks.
• Utilizing a multicomponent MOF (Fc@NU-1000) with a pyrene core (reporter), Zr6 nodes (receptor), and Fc molecules (quencher).
• Investigating photoinduced electron transfer (PET) and quencher displacement for sensing.

Main Results:

• The Fc@NU-1000 MOF demonstrated efficient pseudointramolecular PET, leading to luminescence quenching.
• Phosphate analyte successfully displaced the quencher, blocking PET and recovering luminescence.
• The sensor showed sensitive, naked-eye detectable solid-state luminescence turn-on response for phosphate.

Conclusions:

• This work presents the first MOF-confined quencher displacement-based RSR system for solid-state luminescence turn-on sensing.
• The strategy enables the development of practical solid-state sensors using MOF materials.
• This approach opens new avenues for MOF-based luminescence turn-on sensor development.