Two-Dimensional MXenes for a Sustainable Future

Two-dimensional (2D) carbides, nitrides, and related compounds known as MXenes are the fastest-growing family of inorganic nanomaterials, which promise to advance communication, energy, water, and healthcare due to their unique and tunable properties. To deliver on this promise, one needs to scale up their manufacturing in a sustainable way and evaluate their capacity to enhance the efficiency of thermal management and solar energy harvesting, storing renewable energy, desalinating water, and reshape our lives through the introduction of new wearable devices. This Perspective provides a critical analysis of green and sustainable MXene manufacturing and an overview of MXene applications in sustainable technologies, such as energy generation and storage, thermal management, sensing, electromagnetic interference shielding, and water desalination and remediation. The most promising material solutions are suggested, including hybridization with other materials with complementing properties to further enhance MXene performance and build devices and systems that cannot be created using conventional materials. Computationally guided waste-free assembly of MXenes with other nanoparticles and organic molecules can accelerate discovery and reduce trial-and-error in building next-generation systems, opening pathways to sustainable technologies that will shape our future.