Aggregation-induced emission-based luminescent porous materials as cutting-edge tools for food safety monitoring

To date, food safety is vulnerable to failure at all scales to pose serious risks to human health. The practical feasibility of luminescent-based sensing systems has been recognized in the rapid monitoring of such risk with many prominent properties. In this regard, the potential of aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-based luminescent nanomaterials lies in their sensing capability with the distinct and intriguing emission properties. Nonetheless, more efforts should be put to enhance their emissions for the upscaled application (e.g., provision of AIE luminogens (AIEgens) in limited molecular spaces through an intramolecular motion restriction mechanism), as the incorporation of AIEgens into porous frameworks can greatly benefit from high luminescent efficiency, sensitivity, and accuracy. This review offers a comprehensive evaluation on the sensing applications of various AIEgen-based luminescent porous materials against hazardous foodborne substances along with the discussions on the mechanisms of AIE.