Emergent 2D materials for combating infectious diseases: the potential of MXenes and MXene–graphene composites to fight against pandemics

Abstract

Infectious diseases spread rapidly among humans, and they are amid the major causes of human deaths globally. The world has seen several fatal infectious diseases in the past, for example, Spanish flu about a century ago, and now coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), the two major pandemics. While medicines and vaccines are the ultimate solutions to combat pandemics, material innovation and technological development are also crucial parts to fight against these highly infectious diseases. Materials and technological development can assist in developing high-performance and sensitive diagnostic devices, efficient antimicrobial components/personal protective equipment such as face masks and shields, aprons, sterilizers, touch-free components for sanitizations, and many other components for medical equipment. Due to the outstanding functional properties and feasibility to integrate with any systems, 2D materials are emerging solutions for biomedical applications. In particular, 2D materials beyond graphene such as MXenes, and composites of MXene–graphene show many promising properties such as high electrical conductivity, surface functionalization feasibility, excellent photocatalytic and photo-to-heat conversion properties, outstanding antimicrobial behavior, and many other tailorable properties. Here, we shed light on the properties of MXenes and MXene–graphene composites for healthcare applications and how they can contribute in the fight against the current and future pandemics.