ABSTRACT
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are open, crystalline supramolecular coordinate polymers with porous surfaces built with a versatile and flexible selection of organic linkers and metal nodes that are chemically tailorable framework materials. Tunable pore size, large surface area, functional sites, and interesting properties, such as magnetism, luminance, chromism, electrical conductivity, and the like, of MOFs have been applied for environmental sensing and monitoring. Smart sensors have been used in the quick detection of heavy metal ions and have shown satisfactory analytical performance, but they include many drawbacks such as a lack of quantifiable measurements and poor stability. Applying the unique characteristic properties of MOFs shows a path for enhancing the analytical performance of these smart sensors. Although the application of MOFs in smart sensors has made sensing more meticulous, a comprehensive outline based on the sensing of various gases, identification of biomolecules, robustness, and selectivity of smart sensors, still needs proper investigation. However, existing smart sensors leave much still to be discovered for environmental sensing and monitoring, such as enhanced selectivity and sensitivity, higher flux, good reusability, and faster responses to be addressed. This chapter deals with the major challenges faced by smart sensors fabricated with MOFs and their prospects in making human life easy.
