MXene-Based Materials for Solar Cell Applications

Abstract

MXenes are a class of two-dimensional nanomaterials with exceptional tailor-made properties, making them promising candidates for a wide variety of critical applications from energy systems, optics, electromagnetic interference shielding to those advanced sensors, and medical devices. Owing to its mechano-ceramic nature, MXenes have superior thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties. Recently, MXene-based materials are being extensively explored for solar cell applications wherein materials with superior sustainability, performance, and efficiency have been developed in demand to reduce the manufacturing cost of the present solar cell materials as well as enhance the productivity, efficiency, and performance of the MXene-based materials for solar energy harvesting. It is aimed in this review to study those MXenes employed in solar technologies, and in terms of the layout of the current paper, those 2D materials candidates used in solar cell applications are briefly reviewed and discussed, and then the fabrication methods are introduced. The key synthesis methods of MXenes, as well as the electrical, optical, and thermoelectric properties, are explained before those research efforts studying MXenes in solar cell materials are comprehensively discussed. It is believed that the use of MXene in solar technologies is in its infancy stage and many research efforts are yet to be performed on the current pitfalls to fill the existing voids.

Biomedical Applications of an Ultra-Sensitive Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor Based on Smart MXene Quantum Dots (SMQDs)

“… Etching of the MAX phase and creation of SMQDs with surface groups. (Reprinted with permission [ 99 ] Copyright © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.)…”

MXene Based Nanocomposites for Recent Solar Energy Technologies

“…In addition, a MXene-MAPbBr 3 heterojunction is formed using the in situ solution growth method. As shown in Figure 4 b,c, the MXene-MAPbBr 3 heterojunction’s charge and energy transfer speeds are significantly facilitated, positively contributing to the performance enhancement [ 30 , 31 ].…”

MXene-Based Ink Design for Printed Applications

“…A new family of 2D few-atoms-thick layers of transition metal carbides, nitrides, or carbonitrides, called MXenes, has recently drawn heated attention due to special properties like hydrophilicity, mechano-ceramic nature and excellent electrical conductivity, making them an ideal additive for conductive inks, hybrids, or nanocomposites [ 16 , 17 ]. To date, MXenes have successfully been employed in next-generation batteries [ 18 ], electromagnetic insulations [ 19 ], high-strength composite materials [ 20 ], biomaterials [ 21 ], and energy and environmental applications [ 22 , 23 ], to name a few. The first member of MXenes, Ti 3 C 2 T x , is a carbon-based laminate synthesized through a selective etching process by the Gogotsi group [ 24 ] at Drexel University in 2011.…”