Intercalation engineering of MXenes towards highly efficient photo(electrocatalytic) hydrogen evolution reactions

Abstract

The emergence of 2D MXenes composed of transition metal carbides, nitrides or carbonitrides has attracted significant scientific interest in recent years. Its unique layered structure and highly configured surface functional groups in its periphery are beneficial for applications in electrochemical supercapacitors, sensors, photocatalysts, and electrocatalysts. The interlayer spacing of MXenes can provide enough space for the intercalation agent to be embedded. The embedding of different intercalators can adjust the conductivity, flexibility, and capacitance of MXenes. The embedded intercalators further increase the interlayer spacing of MXenes, which is beneficial to the formation and further modification of MXenes. In this review, we summarize several typical intercalators of MXenes and their relevant applications in the development of the photocatalytic and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in recent years, which can provide significant guidance for expanding the interlayer spacing to get thin-layered MXenes, designing and synthesizing highly active MXene catalysts for highly efficient HER performance.