Breakthroughs in Water Purification: A New MOF and MXene Combination

MXenes, a unique type of two-dimensional lamellar material, have gained a lot of attention lately. However, they have a tendency to collapse and stack due to hydrogen bonding and interlayer van der Waals forces, which hurts their performance in electrochemical processes and capacitive deionization. To tackle this, scientists created a new material called Ni-1, 3, 5-benzenetricarboxylate/Ti3C2Tx (Ni-BTC/Ti3C2Tx) composite. This material is made by decorating Ni-BTC over Ti3C2Tx, a type of MXene. Ni-BTC prevents the aggregation of MXenes and provides a large surface area with rich pores. Ti3C2Tx, which acts as a support, helps disperse Ni-BTC and boosts ion transport.This combination gives the material a special three-dimensional structure with both horizontal and vertical charge transfer paths. As a result, Ni-BTC/Ti3C2Tx can remove chromium(VI) from water with an impressive rate of 94. 1%. It can hold much more chromium(VI) ions, around 124. 5 mg per gram, compared to pure Ti3C2Tx, which holds only 55. 5 mg per gram. This improvement is thanks to the unique three-dimensional network and the way Ni-BTC and Ti3C2Tx work together. This new material shows great promise for use in capacitive deionization technology.