Advanced Properties and Applications of AIEgens-Inspired Smart Materials

Aggregation-induced-emission-based fluorescent materials (AIEgens) have stimulated an enormous amount of interest in the fields of electroluminescent and photoluminescent device fabrication, biomedicine, chemosensing, and therapeutics over the past few years. Carbonaceous materials like inorganic nanoparticles, metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, etc. are generally porous crystalline solids, in which molecular units are aligned in a specific direction by strong bonding. These materials offer various functionalities and complexities in their structures. The incorporation of AIEgens at a suitable position on these materials through various methods, such as covalent/coordinate bonds or non-covalent interactions, provides a particular geometry with specific arrangements. AIEgen-based composite materials offer a robust platform to study the underlying mechanisms of AIE. These types of materials are mostly used in the development of extremely fluorescent porous materials. In this Review, the preparation of AIEgen-incorporated smart materials and their luminescence properties, as well as applications of such materials, are discussed.