Recent Advances in 2D MXene Integrated Smart-Textile Interfaces for Multifunctional Applications

Abstract

Coupled with the advances in the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, and soft robotics, wearable smart textiles have emerged as a unique platform for next-generation electronics. Nanofabrication of textiles with electroactive materials has significantly augmented wearable smart textile systems offering health monitoring, self-powered energy management, and portable sensing. The emergence of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbide and nitride called “MXene” has revolutionized material chemistry research due to its unique properties such as metallic conductivity, rich surface chemistry, tunable terminations, and excellent processability. These excellent properties of MXene-based materials have attracted huge attention of the research community. This review summarizes the current progress in MXene-based textile, fibers, yarns, fabrics, and composites for various applications. Initially, the unique surface chemistry and processing techniques of MXenes are discussed, followed by the preparation of MXene for textiles functionalization. Subsequently, different MXene–textile fabrication techniques, performance matrices, and textile functionalization approaches that are beneficial to enhance the compatibility between MXene and textiles have also been discussed. The current development of MXene–textiles in various fields such as smart thermotherapy, sensing, flexible energy-storage systems, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, etc. are delineated. Finally, the existing challenges within the field are presented, and the future opportunities of MXene enabled smart textiles research are elaborated.