The marriage of Xenes and hydrogels: Fundamentals, applications, and outlook
Yong Kang, Hanjie Zhang, Li‐Qun Chen, Jinrui Dong, Bin Yao, Yuan Xue, Duotian Qin, Alexey V. Yaremenko, Chuang LIU, Chan Feng, Xiaoyuan Ji, Wei Tao
Abstract
Hydrogels have blossomed as superstars in various fields, owing to their prospective applications in tissue engineering, soft electronics and sensors, flexible energy storage, and biomedicines. Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, especially 2D mono-elemental nanosheets (Xenes) exhibit high aspect ratio morphology, good biocompatibility, metallic conductivity, and tunable electrochemical properties. These fascinating characteristics endow numerous tunable application-specific properties for the construction of Xene-based hydrogels. Hierarchical multifunctional hydrogels can be prepared according to the application requirements and can be effectively tuned by different stimulation to complete specific tasks in a spatiotemporal sequence. In this review, the synthesis mechanism, properties, and emerging applications of Xene hydrogels are summarized, followed by a discussion on expanding the performance and application range of both hydrogels and Xenes.