Metal-Ligand Coordination Induced Ionochromism for π-Conjugated Materials

Recent studies indicated that the toxicity of heavy metal ions caused a series of environmental, food, and human health problems. Chemical ionochromic sensors are crucial for detecting these toxicity ions. Incorporating organic ligands into π-conjugated polymers made them receptors for metal ions, resulting in an ionochromism phenomenon, which is promising to develop chemosensors for metal ions. This review highlights the recent advances in π-conjugated polymers with ionochromism to metal ions, which may guide rational structural design and evaluation of chemosensors.