The recent progress in photonic MOFs for luminescence sensing, white-light emission, photocatalysis, nonlinear optics, lasing devices, and biomedicine is summarized.

The first luminescent two-dimensional MOF nanosheets NTU-9-NS Ti₂(HDOBDC)₂(H₂DOBDC) (H₂DOBDC = 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid) fabricated via top-down delamination have been realized for the highly sensitive sensing of Fe³⁺ with a fast response.

A lanthanide coordination polymer Tb_0.957Eu_0.043cpda was synthesized as a ratiometric and colorimetric luminescent thermometer. The high triplet excited state energy of a linker enables Tb_0.957Eu_0.043cpda to detect and visualize temperature over a wide range from cryogenic to room temperature (40–300 K).