MXenes and MXene-based Materials with Cancer Diagnostic Applications: Challenges and Opportunities

MXenes and MXene-based materials exhibited unique properties such as remarkable conductivity, hydrophilicity, high ion transport features, low diffusion barrier, biocompatibility, and suitable surface area, which make them promising candidates for sensing and imaging applications in the field of biomedicine (especially cancer diagnosis/imaging), analytical chemistry, and (bio)sensing. These two-dimensional (2D) materials with suitable surface functionalization or modification can be considered as the next-generation structures for cancer diagnosis with high biocompatibility, stability, and adoption capacity. In the field of cancer diagnosis and imaging, MXenes with great potentials and unique physicochemical structures should be further evaluated by researchers, especially for their biosafety, biocompatibility, stability, and biodegradability. Future studies should move toward specific clinical evaluations as well as industrial and up-scalable production of innovative functionalized MXenes and MXene-based materials with efficient cancer diagnostic potentials. In this review, recent advances related to the cancer diagnostic applications of MXenes and MXene-based materials are highlighted, focusing on current challenges and future perspectives.