AIE based luminescent porous materials as cutting-edge tool for environmental monitoring: State of the art advances and perspectives

[Display omitted] •AIEgens exhibit exceptional luminescent properties and application versatility in diverse areas.•Luminescent porous materials (MOFs, COFs and POPs) as AIEgens are very promising in the field of detection.•Incorporation of different AIE mechanisms (RIR, RIV, RIM) in coordination compounds allows systematic designing of porous AIEgens.•This review investigates design and development of porous AIEgens for detection of important enviromental analytes (metal ions, gases, VOCs, etc.) Various research groups around the globe are focusingon the design and development of innovative luminescent systems, because of their multiple and unique features such as remarkable sensitivity, rapid signal response time, and ease of operation. In particular, aggregation-induced emission (AIE) based luminescent frameworks have emerged as potential candidates for sensing applications owing to the distinct emission property of AIE luminogens (AIEgens). Thus, numerous AIEgen-based porousmaterials like metal organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), porous organic polymers (POPs), and metal organic cages (MOCs) have been established over the past decade for sensing applications with exceptional performancesthat surpass theconventional luminescentprobes. This review provides systematic information on the fundamentals of AIE, the operating mechanism involved, and finally sheds light on recent advancements in AIE-based luminescent porous materials (MOFs, COFs, POPs, and MOCs) for potential sensing applications with special emphasis on environmental safety. The important detection parameters such as sensitivity, response time, selectivity, etc., of such AIE porous materials are highlighted for the detection of a variety of chemical compounds.