Recent Advances in MXene-Based Composites for Their Efficiency in the Degradation of Antibiotics and Water Splitting

The increasing occurrence of antibiotics in water bodies all over the world has raised concerns because of the prospect that they might have genotoxic and antibiotic-resistant consequences in both people and aquatic creatures. In particular, it has been discovered that the construction of hybrid photocatalytic composite materials has greater antibiotic degradation efficiencies. The hybrid photocatalysts deliver improved photoabsorbance, charge separation, transfer, and redox characteristics, as well as enhanced photostability and rapid recovery, due to their optimal characteristic qualities, including superior structural, surface, and interfacial properties. Additionally, metal-based electrocatalysts have garnered notable attention in the field of water splitting as they are low-cost, standard and have the potential to be used in green and clean technology. MXene, a family of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides, was discovered in 2011 due to its high conductivity, large surface area, and abundance of catalytically active sites. By making hybrid structures of MXene with other materials, which have shown better electrocatalytic activity than pure MXenes. The two half-cell processes involved in water electrolysis are the oxygen generation at the anode site and the hydrogen production at the cathode site. This review paper provides a summary of the latest advancements in the design of several hybrid systems, catalysts and their effectiveness in degrading a range of newly discovered antibiotic pharmaceutical pollutants in aquatic settings, as well as recent developments on the use of MXenes and MXene-based hybrid structures such as OER, HER, and bifunctional electrocatalysts for general water splitting.