MXene-based materials as promising extractants for analytical sample preparation

MXenes, an emerging category of 2D materials, have attracted significant attention of scientific community since their discovery in 2011. These materials show exciting properties such as exceptional surface functionalities, layered structures, hydrophilicity, tunable intercalated moieties, and high electrical conductivities. To date, MXene-based materials have been widely used in gas sensing, energy storage/conversion, photocatalysis, biomedical devices, electrochemical sensors and biosensors, electromagnetic shielding, and removal of organic and inorganic pollutants from different media. Recently, there has been a growing interest in utilizing these materials in analytical extraction techniques such as solid phase microextraction, dispersive solid phase extraction, magnetic solid phase extraction, and others. This review aims to provide a concise overview of this emerging trend to the analytical community. It discusses the synthesis of MXene-based materials for extraction applications, different modifications to improve their affinity towards target molecules, and their application as a sorbent for environmental, food, and biological samples.