Progression in the Oxidation Stability of MXenes

Abstract

MXenes are under the spotlight due to their versatile physicochemical characteristics. Since their discovery in 2011, significant advancements have been achieved in their synthesis and application sectors. However, the spontaneous oxidation of MXenes, which is critical to its processing and product lifespan, has gotten less attention due to its chemical complexity and poorly understood oxidation mechanism. This perspective focuses on the oxidation stability of MXenes and addresses the most recent advancements in understanding and the possible countermeasures to limit the spontaneous oxidation of MXenes. A section is dedicated to the presently accessible methods for monitoring oxidation, with a discussion on the debatable oxidation mechanism and coherently operating factors that contribute to the complexity of MXenes oxidation. The current potential solutions for mitigating MXenes oxidation and the existing challenges are also discussed with prospects to prolong MXene’s shelf-life storage and expand their application scope. Graphical Abstract

Role of MXenes in advancing soft robotics

“…84,88 Several strategies can be deployed for improving the intrinsic stability of MXenes, including improvement of the synthesis protocols, enhancement of the MAX phase quality, optimization of the atomic defects, employment of efficient stabilization tactics providing regulated surface moieties, and investigation of the correlations between the properties and the flake size. 89…”

“…84,88 Several strategies can be deployed for improving the intrinsic stability of MXenes, including improvement of the synthesis protocols, enhancement of the MAX phase quality, optimization of the atomic defects, employment of efficient stabilization tactics providing regulated surface moieties, and investigation of the correlations between the properties and the flake size. 89 Several reviews have comprehensively addressed the topic of MXenes production. [90][91][92] These 2D materials are typically fabricated by etching approaches, including molten-salt, HF-free, and electrochemical etching.…”

Ti3C2Tx MXene: A New Promising 2D Material for Optoelectronics

“…As the oxidation of Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene proceeds, the edge-formed TiO 2 particles grow throughout the layered structure, resulting in a proportional reduction in the concentration of MXene-flakes and their size . Based on the recent reports on overcoming this issue, ,− the major strategies that can be employed to enhance the oxidation stability can be listed as follows. Careful selection of the MAX phase precursors. Since MXenes are topo chemically produced from their parent MAX phases, the MAX phase’s quality has a significant impact on the MXene structure and characteristics …”

Theoretical insights into surface-phase transition and ion competition during alkali ion intercalation on the Cu4Se4 nanosheet

“…However, a method to halt the spontaneous aqueous oxidation of MXenes should be proposed before MXenes can be applied to batteries. 14 Single-layered MoS 2 is a promising anode material for SIBs and PIBs due to the isotropic ion transport paths and high specific capacity. Zhang et al 15 found that MoS 2 @C and Fe 7 S 8 @C in dimethyl ether (DME) electrolyte have promising potential for fast SIBs and PIBs with a higher initial coulombic efficiency and capacity when compared with those in ethylene carbonate/diethyl carbonate electrolyte.…”