Recent Advances of Emerging 2D MXene for Stable and Dendrite-Free Metal Anodes

Metal anodes based on a plating/stripping electrochemistry such as metallic Li, Na, K, Zn, Mg, Ca, Al, and Fe have attracted widespread attention over the past several years because of their high theoretical specific capacity, low electrochemical potential, and superior electronic conductivity. Metal anodes can be paired with cathodes to construct high-energy-density rechargeable metal batteries. However, inherent issues including large volume changes, uncontrollable growth of dangerous dendrites, and an unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) hinder their further development. MXene as an emerging 2D material has shown great potential to address the inherent issues of metal anodes due to its 2D structure, abundant surface functional groups, and the ability to construct macroscopic architectures. To date, under the assistance of MXene, various strategies have been proposed to achieve stable and dendrite-free metal anodes, such as MXene-based host design, designing metalphilic MXene-based substrates, modifying the metal surface with MXene, constructing MXene arrays, and decorating separators or electrolytes with MXene. Herein the applications and advances of MXene in stable and dendrite-free metal anodes are carefully summarized and analyzed. Some perspectives and outlooks for future research are also proposed.