Emerging 2D MXene-conjugated nanoarchitectures for nanozymes: Current advances and future frontiers in biochemical sensing technologies

Nanozymes, nanostructured materials with exceptional catalytic performance, are recognized for their unique benefits over natural enzymes, including notably low fabrication costs and high chemical stability. Emerging as a captivating frontier in nanozyme research, MXene-based composite material nanozymes (MXzymes) have sparked intense research interests owing to their unique compositions and structural features, which can be engineered to unlock their enzyme-mimicking catalytic prowess. This approach opens groundbreaking opportunities for detecting biologically significant, food-related, and environmentally crucial analytes. This review highlights the innovative fabrication methods of MXzymes, focusing on their diverse nanozyme activity types reported thus far, including peroxidase-like and oxidase-like functionalities, while unveiling the underlying catalytic mechanisms in detail. In addition, recent pioneering breakthroughs in MXzymes are comprehensively reviewed, including catalytic signal amplification by MXzymes, which can function as cutting-edge sensing platforms as evidenced by colorimetric, smartphone-based, chemiluminescent, electrochemical, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering-based analyses. Finally, the promising potential applications of MXzymes and fundamental challenges associated with their scalability, stability, and biocompatibility for MXzymes-based chemical/biomedical sensors are addressed.