Aggregation-Induced Emission-Based Lateral Flow Assays for Food Safety Analysis: Design Strategies, Performance Characteristics, and Recent Advances

Lateral flow assays (LFAs), as miniaturized paper-based sensing platforms, have introduced simple, effective, and point-of-care testing (POCT) devices for detecting various targets, including contaminants, pathogens, antibiotic residues, and pesticide residues, in complex food matrices. The principle of operation in these assays relies on a signal reporting label, which plays a crucial role in improving the sensitivity of the detection approach. However, conventional LFA signal labels often exhibit insufficient sensitivity when detecting biomarkers at low concentrations. The integration of aggregation-induced luminescence (AIE) materials into the structure of LFAs has enabled sensitive and selective analytical methods for a variety of assay applications. The increase in luminescence intensity in aggregated states is accompanied by a high signal-to-noise ratio and excellent photostability. Additionally, their high quantum yields (QYs) and strong fluorescence make them well-suited for various optical sensors based on LFAs, including both colorimetric and fluorescence-based LFAs. This review explores the potential of AIE materials in LFAs for food safety analysis. It also provides a detailed discussion of the operational principles of both AIE materials and LFAs. Furthermore, the design of these platforms and their recent advancements in food safety applications are thoroughly reviewed.