MXene@MnO2 hybrid as durable ‘brick-mud’ coatings for fabricating anti-bacterial textiles with HCHO removal capacity

Transition metal oxides have shown great potential in catalytic indoor pollutant removals, but their applications are hindered by the poor aqueous dispersity, inhalable powder forms and concerning substrate adhesion. Herein, we proposed a simple technique to fabricate durable textile coatings with ‘brick-mud’ nanostructure of Ti 3 C 2 T x (MXene) and manganese dioxide (MnO 2 ). Viscosity-controllable inks were prepared by hybridizing inulin-templated MnO 2 nanoparticles with acid-etched MXene nanosheets at room temperature, establishing firm bindings through coordination bonds between transition metal cores and hydroxyls, covalent redox linkages of Mn/Ti vacancies and intermolecular hydrogen bonds. Meanwhile, the high flatness of MXene optimized the binder/catalyst-free deposition of MnO 2 onto cotton textiles, simplifying the finishing process and providing MXene@MnO 2 coatings with encouraging fastness through the aforementioned triple bridges. Consequently, the resulting textiles exhibit satisfactory photo-antibacterial activities against gram negative and positive bacteria (>99 % within 10 min), accompanying with promising formaldehyde (HCHO) removal ability (>83 % within 30 min) and encouraging ultraviolet-absorption property (<0.05 % of UVA). Summarily, the presented deposition strategy of ‘brick-mud’-like coatings of transition metal catalysts on textiles provides a reliable alternative for the fabrication of multifunctional home textiles to improve indoor living quality.