A review of research progress on COF-based biosensors in pathogen detection

Despite the availability of various detection tools, the rapid identification and accurate detection of pathogens remain a major challenge in public health management. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), which are crystalline conjugated organic polymers with considerable application potential, offer unique advantages in several fields owing to their highly ordered structure, large specific surface area, stable chemical properties, and tunable pore microenvironment. In recent years, with the rapid development of biosensing technology, COF application in the field of pathogen detection has attracted extensive attention. Herein, the properties, applications, and synthesis methods of COFs are briefly described, and the application types and basic principles of COFs in building an efficient and sensitive pathogen detection platform are emphatically discussed. Overall, we analyze the current challenges associated with COF-based biosensors in pathogen detection and look forward to their broad application prospects in biomedicine and public health in future.