Environmental Insights and Sustainability Opportunities for Scaled-Up MXene Production Without Etching

MXenes are a class of high-performance materials receiving significant attention in areas such as energy and sensors. However, their conventional synthesis via defective etching raises environmental concerns due to the heavy use of hazardous chemicals. Herein, the environmental impacts of emerging MXene synthesis pathways are systematically evaluated from lab to process scales. Transforming away from solvent-based etching could enable a 94% reduction in carbon emissions with improved reactant efficiency and recovery. Further, process optimization opportunities are identified for gas-phase and molten salt synthesis pathways to achieving 67% to 85% reduction in human health, ecosystems, and natural resource impacts. Future research should target developing processes with dispersant to product ratio reaching 5.3 L/kg, which can reduce the carbon emission of MXene production down to 27 kg CO₂-eq/kg, making it one of the leading advanced nanomaterials.