Zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks for fluorescent sensing

• Zr-MOFs show great potential application in the field of sensing. • Different types of Zr-MOF sensors in fluorescent sensing have been classified. • The important progress in fluorescence sensing of Zr-MOFs has been summarized. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of inorganic–organic hybrid crystalline materials composed of metal cations/clusters and organic ligands. Zirconium-based MOFs (Zr-MOFs) are considered to be one of the most promising families of MOF materials for practical applications due to their structural diversity, incomparable stability, and interesting properties. Therein luminescent Zr-MOFs with suitable metal nodes, ligands, and encapsulated guest molecules exhibit unique fluorescence responses. They could achieve efficient and sensitive detection of various harmful pollutants and dangerous goods, which is significant to human health and environmental protection. In this review, the synthetic strategies, types of sensors, and applications of Zr-MOF sensors were summarized, including progress in sensing ions, nitroaromatic compounds, toxic substances, biosensing and bioimaging in recent years. This review is expected to guide the design, synthesis and practical application of Zr-MOFs in chemical and biological sensing, enrich the library of Zr-MOF sensors, and expand their application scope for more detrimental species.