Roles of MXenes in biomedical applications: recent developments and prospects

Li, Hui; Fan, Rangrang; Zou, Bingwen; Yan, Jiazhen; Shi, Qiwu; Guo, Gang

doi:10.1186/s12951-023-01809-2

Journal of Nanobiotechnology

Table 1 Summary of MXenes synthesis methods

From: Roles of MXenes in biomedical applications: recent developments and prospects

Synthesis method			MAX-phase	MXene	Etchant	Temperature	Delamination	Features	Refs.
Type of precursors	MAX-phase	Metal	Ti₃AlC₂	Ti₃C₂	HF	RT	Without delamination	Traditional synthesis, which has been extensively studied	[14]
	No-MAX-phase		YAl₃C₃	YC_x	HCL/LiF HF		DMSO	Emerging synthetic methods for specific metal elements such as the transition metals Zr and Hf	[26]
			Hf₃[Al(Si)]₄C₆	Hf₃C₂	HF		Without delamination		[66]
			Mo₂Ga₂C	Mo₂C	HF	50 °C	Without delamination		[25]
Based on etchants	HF-etching	HF	Ti₃AlC₂ Nb₂AlC	Ti₃C₂ Nb₂C	HF HF	RT RT	Without delamination TPAOH	Disadvantages: It is highly corrosive and harmful to humans and the environment. Remaining HF could induce cell death, thereby harming the health of biological organisms	[67] [18]
	HF-etching	HF/Oxidizing agent	Ti₃SiC₂	Ti₃C₂	HF/H₂O₂	40 °C			[44]
	Non-HF-etching	Situ HF etching	Ti₃AlC₂	Ti₃C₂	HCl/LiF	40 °C	in distilled water via ultrasonication	Advantages: This method avoids the toxicity of MXenes during the synthesis process and is less hazardous	[45]
		Bifluoride solutions	Ti₃AlC₂	Ti₃C₂	KHF₂ or NaHF₂	60 °C	Without delamination	Advantages: During the etching process, NH⁴⁺ Na⁺, or K⁺ ions could enter the interlayer space of MXenes, further enlarging the interplanar spcccscacing and promoting the delamination efficiency	[46]
		Bifluoride solutions	Ti₃AlC₂	Ti₃C₂	NH₄HF₂	60 °C	dimethyl sulfoxide via ultrasonication under argon		[68]
		Molten fluorides	Ti₄AlN₃	Ti₄N₃	LiF, NaF, KF	550 °C	TBOAH and Sonication	Advantages: Compared to M_n+1AlC_n, Al atoms are more strongly bonded in M_n+1AlN_n, so it is difficult to eliminate the A-layer from nitride-based MAX phases. This approach using molten fluorides with the assistance of high-temperature heating can provide higher energy to etch the A-layer from the MAX phase	[49]
		Molten fluorides	Ti₃AlC₂	Ti₃C₂	CdBr₂		N-methyl formamide		[8]
		Fluorine-free	Ti₃AlC₂	Ti₃C₂	NH₄OH	RT	Without delamination	Advantages: Etching with fluorine-free etchants can be performed to produce controllable functional surface termination of MXenes	[67]
			Ti₂AlC	Ti₂CT_x	electrochemical etching				[51]
			V₂C Mo₂C	V₂N Mo₂N	ammonification	600 °C			[50]
			Ti₃AlC₂	Ti₃C₂T_x	NaOH,	270 °C	DMSO		[69]
Bottom-up approach		CVD		Mo₂N				Advantages: Enabling precise manipulation of the size distribution, geometric morphology, surface termination of MXenes and simple implementation	[62]
		CVD		Mo₂C					[63]
		PLD		Mo₂C					[64]
		Salt template methods		W₂N, V₂N					[65]

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ISSN: 1477-3155

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