Functionalizing Luminescent Metal-Organic Frameworks for Enhanced Photoluminescence

Luminescent metal-organic frameworks (LMOFs) have received considerable attention in recent years because of their enormous potential for a broad range of applications in chemical sensing, energy-efficient lighting, bioimaging, and related fields. Benefiting from their tunable crystal structures, compositions, and porosity, significant progress has been made in developing LMOFs with high luminescence quantum efficiency. In this Perspective, we highlight two recently developed strategies that have been successful in designing LMOFs that are made of chromophoric ligands or that encapsulate emissive guest species. These LMOFs offer the highest photo-luminescence performance and most flexibility in tuning emission energy and colors. We also discuss the main challenges as well as new opportunities for the future development of LMOFs.