MXenes

In materials science, MXenes (pronounced "max-enes") are a class of two-dimensional inorganic compounds along with MBorenes, that consist of atomically thin layers of transition metal carbides, nitrides, or carbonitrides. MXenes accept a variety of hydrophilic terminations. The first MXene was reported in 2011 at Drexel University's College of Engineering, and was named by combining the prefix "MAX" or "MX" (for MAX phases), with "ene" by analogy to graphene.

== Structure == thumb|right|Scanning electron microscope image of the MXene produced by HF-etching of Ti3AlC2 As-synthesized MXenes prepared via HF etching have an accordion-like morphology, which can be referred to as multi-layer MXene (ML-MXene), or few-layer MXene (FL-MXene) for fewer than five layers. Because the surfaces of MXenes can be terminated by functional groups, the naming convention Mn+1XnTx can be used, where T is a functional group (e.g. O, F, OH, Cl).