Application of MXenes on Separation Processes

Urbanization and industrialization have generated a large amount of waste and unwanted gases, which are regularly released into the environment. Nowadays, contamination of water sources with different non-biodegradable contaminants as a result of urbanization, industrialization and inefficient wastewater (organic and inorganic) management, and increasing greenhouse gases has turned into a public concern. The number of harmful substances like hydrocarbons, heavy metals, organic chemicals, microorganisms, and volatile organic compounds released into the aqueous systems may vary depending on the composition of effluents produced by various industries. Since traditional wastewater management systems are no longer able to meet the effluent standards before discharge, there is a need for other treatment systems before reuse. As an eco-friendly technique, adsorption can remove dangerous contaminants even at the micro-level. Two-dimensional Transition Metal Carbide/Nitride (MXene) is an emerging nanomaterial used for the treatment of polluted waters due to its mechanical flexibility, scalable production, good conductivity, rich surface functionality, layered morphology, and high specific surface area. Furthermore, it has an excellent ability to simultaneously absorb different pollutants according to their interlayer spacing and surface terminal groups (O−, OH−, and F−). Due to its stability and ease of processing, Titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx) is the most researched so far. It has also displayed a great performance in captivating radioactive and heavy metal ions. According to environmentally friendly processes to separate these pollutions and separate the created or unwanted gases, the use of these materials can be very useful.