A Review on MXene Synthesis, Stability, and Photocatalytic Applications

Photocatalytic water splitting, CO2 reduction, and pollutant degradation have emerged as promising strategies to remedy the existing environmental and energy crises. However, grafting of expensive and less abundant noble-metal cocatalysts on photocatalyst materials is a mandatory practice to achieve enhanced photocatalytic performance owing to the ability of the cocatalysts to extract electrons efficiently from the photocatalyst and enable rapid/enhanced catalytic reaction. Hence, developing highly efficient, inexpensive, and noble-metal-free cocatalysts composed of earth-abundant elements is considered as a noteworthy step toward considering photocatalysis as a more economical strategy. Recently, MXenes (two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides) have shown huge potential as alternatives for noble-metal cocatalysts. MXenes have several excellent properties, including atomically thin 2D morphology, metallic electrical conductivity, hydrophilic surface, and high specific surface area. In addition, they exhibit Gibbs free energy of intermediate H atom adsorption as close to zero and less than that of a commercial Pt-based cocatalyst, a Fermi level position above the H2 generation potential, and an excellent ability to capture and activate CO2 molecules. Therefore, there is a growing interest in MXene-based photocatalyst materials for various photocatalytic events. In this review, we focus on the recent advances in the synthesis of MXenes with 2D and 0D morphologies, the stability of MXenes, and MXene-based photocatalysts for H2 evolution, CO2 reduction, and pollutant degradation. The existing challenges and the possible future directions to enhance the photocatalytic performance of MXene-based photocatalysts are also discussed.