Critical Evaluation of Antibacterial Properties of MXenes

作者：Viktoriia Korniienko, Oleksiy Gogotsi, Yuliia Varava, Baiba Zandersone, Volodymyr Deineka, Yevheniia Husak, Kateryna Diedkova, Oleksandr Solodovnyk, Vjacheslav Kukurika, Serhii Dukhnovskiy, Roman Moskalenko, Ivan Baginskiy, Oksana Petrichenko, Oksana Sulaieva, Olena Haidamak, Pavlo Shubin, Veronika Zahorodna, Błażej Anastaziak, Emerson Coy, Igor Iatsunskyi, Yury Gogotsi, Maksym Pogorielov · 发表于：ChemRxiv · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-mbptc · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：MXene and MAX Phase Materials、Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics、Graphene and Nanomaterials Applications

MXenes are well-known as highly biocompatible two-dimensional nanomaterials with a wide range of biomedical applications, including antibacterial strategies. However, the coexistence of high biocompatibility and reported strong antibacterial effects presents a fundamental contradiction that requires critical evaluation. In this study, we systematically investigated the antibacterial properties of pure Ti3C2Tx, Nb2CTx, V2CTx, and Ti3CNTx MXenes of varying flake sizes using multiple in vitro assays and an in vivo wound model. High-resolution structural and chemical characterizations confirmed the use of high-quality, minimally oxidized MXene samples with well-defined surface terminations. Despite using multiple evaluation methods, including disk diffusion, broth microdilution, time-kill kinetics, ROS quantification, and electron microscopy, no significant antibacterial effects were observed at sub-toxic concentrations. Furthermore, neither reactive oxygen species-mediated damage nor the hypothesized “nano-knife” mechanical disruption mechanism could be confirmed. This suggests that the previous observations of antibacterial properties resulted from incomplete removal of etching products or partial oxidation of MXenes. In contrast, we demonstrate that MXene-assisted photothermal therapy (PTT) under near-infrared laser irradiation offers highly effective and selective bacterial ablation. Ti3C2Tx MXene exhibited strong photothermal performance, achieving complete bacterial killing...