Single-Component Dual-Emissive MOF Sensor Array for Fingerprint Identification of Multiplex Antibiotics

The pervasive, multicomponent contamination of environmental matrices by antibiotics─and the persistent accumulation of their residues─poses serious threats to ecosystems and human health. Consequently, there is an urgent need for analytical strategies that can simultaneously detect and differentiate multiple classes of antibiotic residues. In this study, we designed a dual-emissive Eu-doped Zr metal-organic framework (ZrEu-MOF) that acted as a single cross-reactive element yet delivered a multidimensional fluorescence response for antibiotics. Benefiting from the distinct sensing mechanisms and differential binding affinities between the MOF and various antibiotics, the sensor array generated unique fluorescent fingerprint patterns for each antibiotic. By integrating multidimensional fluorescence data (intensity and emission wavelength) with multivariate statistical analysis, the system achieved precise pattern recognition. This single-element-based sensor array effectively distinguished 12 antibiotics and exhibited robust quantitative performance for individual compounds. Notably, it also demonstrated outstanding discrimination capability for multicomponent mixtures and enabled accurate identification of antibiotics in real environmental samples. This work establishes single-element dual-emission MOFs as practical platforms for high-throughput, pattern-recognition-based monitoring of multiclass antibiotic contaminants in real environments.