Recent Advance in the Fabrication of 2D and 3D Metal Carbides-Based Nanomaterials for Energy and Environmental Applications

Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have attracted increased interest and exhibited extended applications from nanotechnology to materials science, biomedicine, tissue engineering, as well as energy storage and environmental science. With the development of the synthesis and fabrication of 2D materials, a new family of 2D materials, metal carbides (MCs), revealed promising applications in recent years, and have been utilized for the fabrication of various functional 2D and three-dimensional (3D) nanomaterials for energy and environmental applications, ascribing to the unique physical and chemical properties of MCs. In this review, we present recent advance in the synthesis, fabrication, and applications of 2D and 3D MC-based nanomaterials. For this aim, we first summarize typical synthesis methods of MCs, and then demonstrate the progress on the fabrication of 2D and 3D MC-based nanomaterials. To the end, the applications of MC-based 2D and 3D materials for chemical batteries, supercapacitors, water splitting, photodegradation, removal of heavy metals, and electromagnetic shielding are introduced and discussed. This work provides useful information on the preparation, hybridization, structural tailoring, and applications of MC-based materials, and is expected to inspire the design and fabrication of novel and functional MXene materials with improved performance.

Automated summary

Two-dimensional nanomaterials have become increasingly popular for their wide range of applications in various fields, and metal carbides (MCs) as a new family of 2D materials have shown great potential, especially in the areas of energy and environment. With advancements in synthesis and fabrication techniques, MCs can be used to fabricate functional 2D and 3D nanomaterials with unique physical and chemical properties.