Composite Materials Based on Metal-Organic Frameworks Designed for Sensors

Background: Integrating metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with other functional materials to form MOF-composites has attracted great attention. Their diverse and synergetic performance (e.g., mechanical stability, conductivity, optical signal and catalytic activity) facilitates their applications in sensing of various target molecules. Methods: Up to now, a wide range of MOF-composites have been designed and synthesized. The choice of appropriate parent materials, as well as their combination strategy, is of great importance for their performance. Prior to the design of MOF-composites for certain sensing applications, it is necessary to evaluate the advantages of the composites compared to the pristine MOFs and other functional materials. Results: In this review, an overview of the significant advances in the development of diverse MOF-composites is presented, with special emphasis on the synergistic effects in sensing (e.g., optical, electrochemical and biological) applications of the composites. Additionally, the challenges and future prospects of MOF-composites as an innovative sensing platform have been discussed to seek further development in this emerging research area. Conclusion: MOF-composites show great potential in sensing applications. Further efforts are still urgently required to advance their applications in point-of-care (POC) detection and in vitro diagnosis (IVD).