MXene Conference 2020 – 2D MXenes 10 Years Later
August 3, 2020
Thank you, Dr. Barsoum, and good Monday morning, everyone!
It is my great honor and pleasure to welcome you – our leaders and guests from academia, the private sector and government – from around the globe to this exciting event.
While this is the fourth international gathering focused exclusively on MXenes, I am thrilled that as the global leader for MXene research, Drexel’s College of Engineering is host to the first such conference on U.S. soil – or U.S. servers, anyway!
It seems everything connected to MXenes has the potential to be monumental – not only in terms of scientific discovery, but in terms of administrative lift.
On this latter point, my thanks go to all the staff and faculty who played a role in planning this significant event and, in rapid response to changes warranted by the COVID-19 pandemic, ultimately transitioning the conference for virtual delivery. This was no small task, and I am grateful for your dedication and work to making this week a success.
As Dean of Drexel Engineering, I trust you’ll allow me a few moments to express pride in the work of our Materials Science and Engineering faculty and student researchers as they exemplify what it means to be an engineer, and what it means to be a Drexel Dragon.
Nearly a decade ago in an interview, Dr. Yuri Gogotsi said:
“The sky is really the limit, but it takes a lot of work both modeling and experimental to understand the properties.”
Of course, Dr. Gogotsi was referring to the then-new extraordinarily versatile family of two-dimensional materials, MXenes. Yet he captured the essence of what Drexel Engineering is all about:
We encourage our students and faculty to be innovative, to imagine without boundaries. In other words, the sky is the limit.
We then guide and support them as they focus those big ideas to actionable outcomes –research contributions, industry applications, service to local, national and global communities.
In other words, if you’ll entertain another euphemism, it takes a lot of work to come back down to earth and to hit the ground running.
And running is truly analogous to the history of MXenes.
Dr. Barsoum and Dr. Gogotsi discovered MXenes in 2010, and over the last decade, research has grown exponentially around the world.
The materials were first reported in the journal Advanced Materials in August of 2011, after the process of using an acid etching liquid to chemically hollow out a layered material, called MAX phases — which had been studied extensively in Dr. Barsoum’s research group since 1996, when he uncovered their extraordinary properties — yielded a new type of chemically stable, layered, two-dimensional material.
Called “MXene,” an amalgamation of its MAX phase precursor and chemical nomenclature and pronounced “Maxine” — Drs. Barsoum and Gogotsi discovered that using different kinds of MAX phases and different chemical etchants produced an entire family of materials, wherein each member had unique properties.
Early studies reported that the material possessed exceptional conductivity, which at the time made it an excellent candidate for use in energy storage devices like supercapacitors and batteries.
Researchers have since revealed that, in addition to their conductivity, MXenes are also physically durable and structurally versatile. In addition to energy storage, they are now being developed for a wide range of applications, including electromagnetic interference shielding, bio filtration, telecommunications, chemical sensing and functional fabrics.
As many of you realize, the discovery of a single new material would be considered a lifetime achievement by many. Yet within just the first three years, Drexel researchers discovered and tested a dozen different MXenes.
Today, more than 30 different types of chemically distinct MXene materials and more than a dozen solid solutions of MXene have been isolated and are being studied. In addition, Drexel University has 47 issued patents and patent applications – which currently stand at various stages of prosecution in the U.S. and abroad.
This work represents the best that academia can give a world facing pervasive, relentless challenges.
MXenes could be the key to building smaller, faster electronics and improving energy-storage devices;
to providing clean water through advanced water desalination;
to advancing technology for wearable electronics and the Internet of Things;
and to providing advances in biomedicine for brain electrodes, wearable kidneys, and cancer treatment.
This is translational research that has the potential to change lives.
And so as we gather virtually today and over the remaining course of the week, remember that you are not only witnessing history, but joining in history-in-the-making.
The presentations, conversations, research and information covered in this extensive conference show just how far we have come in a short time, as well as how much remains to be done.
This work will have a ripple effect that will continue to flow long after we part, and I for one, am excited for the future.
In closing, I encourage you to visit the Drexel Engineering website (drexel.edu/engineering) for future information on MXene-related research, and other news and events regarding not only our nanomaterials and materials science, but all of our Drexel Engineering community. I thank you for your attention this morning, and wish you a positive and productive conference experience!
It is now my pleasure to introduce Dr. Aleister Saunders, Executive Vice Provost of Research and Innovation, and Professor of Biology at Drexel University.