MXenes for Personal Thermal Management: Advances in Mechanisms, Applications, and Material Designs

Abstract

Personal thermal management (PTM) has emerged as an energy-efficient strategy to maintain human thermal comfort by directly modulating heat transfer between the human body and the environment, thereby reducing reliance on energy-intensive heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. MXenes, an emerging class of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides (Mn+1XnTx, n=1-4), have attracted considerable attention for PTM owing to their exceptional electrical and thermal conductivity, tunable optical properties, and rich surface chemistry. These characteristics enable efficient heat generation, conversion, storage, and regulation. In recent years, significant advances have been achieved in the development of MXene-based PTM materials across a wide range of thermal regulation modalities, including Joule heating, thermoelectric conversion, photothermal conversion, photothermal therapy, radiative heating, infrared stealth, and phase-change thermal energy storage. In this review, we first summarize MXene synthesis strategies and recent progress in the design of high-performance MXene-based thermal management composites. We then focus on the fundamental mechanisms and material design principles governing their performance in both active and passive PTM systems. Finally, we discuss current challenges and future opportunities to guide the development of MXene-enabled PTM technologies toward practical and scalable applications.