Current state of the art on tailoring the MXene composition, structure, and surface chemistry

MXenes constitute a family of two-dimensional transition metal carbides, carbonitrides and nitrides. Discovered in 2011, the number of MXenes has expanded significantly and more than 20 different MXenes have been synthesized, with many more predicted from theoretical calculations. MXenes constitute an exceptional family of materials based on their availability for elemental alloying and control of surface terminations, which enables synthesis of a range of structures and chemistries. Consequently, the MXenes exhibit an unparalleled potential for tuning of the materials properties for a wide range of applications. At present, MXenes have emerged with astonishing electronic, optical, plasmonic and thermoelectric properties. This has resulted in a global surge of research around a wide variety of applications, including but not limited to energy storage, carbon capture, electromagnetic interference shielding, reinforcement for composites, water filtering, sensors, and photo-, electro- and chemical catalysis etc. In this review, we present the available state of the art tailoring of the MXene properties owing to recent advances in structural ordering and tuning of surface terminations.