MXene as emerging material for photocatalytic degradation of environmental pollutants

In recent years, MXene has attracted significant interest in the photocatalysis because of its novel physical and chemical characteristics, including uniform planer structure, strong metallic conductivity, effective functional groups and plenty of derivatives. Compared to other photocatalysts for the photocatalytic degradation of various contaminants, MXene-based photocatalysts possess excellent photodegradation performance and long-term stability. MXene is widely used as a photocatalyst for the photodegradation of organic compounds and CO2 conversion into value-added products to remediate the environment. MXene-based composites possess superb photodegradation activity compared to the pristine MXene because it lacks the active sites and porous structure compared to MXene-based composites. For example, the NiFe/MXene nanocomposite has ability to degrade the targeted the organic contaminants 4 and 6.72 times higher than the pristine MXene and NiFe, respectively. MXene and their derivatives are invaluable photocatalysts because of their widespread accessibility, inexpensiveness, non-irritating nature, and excellent photocatalytic performance. The active functional groups present on the surface of MXene have a viable impact on the photodegradation performance. This study reports the recent investigations on the photodegradation capability of MXene-based photocatalysts. The physiochemical characteristics of MXene have been discussed briefly for an extensive understanding of the activity of MXene-based photocatalysts. The strength of MXene-based photocatalysts for the photodegradation of organic compounds and CO2 conversion into value-added products, physical and chemical synthesis routes of MXene preparation are reviewed. Finally, the future work and challenges faced by MXene-based photocatalysts are presented.