V 2 C Nanosheets as Dual-Functional Antibacterial Agents.

Antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains have been continuously increasing and becoming a supreme threat to public health globally. The nanoparticle-based photothermal treatment has emerged as a powerful tool to combat toxic bacteria. Photothermal agents (PTAs) with cost-effective and high photothermal conversion efficiency are highly desirable. Herein, we unite the green process for delamination of V 2 AlC to produce a high yield mass of two-dimensional (2D) V 2 C nanosheets (NSs) by using algae extracts and demonstrate their high antibacterial efficiency. The resultant V 2 C NSs present decent structural reliability and intrinsic antibacterial ability. Powerful near-infrared (NIR) absorption and extraordinary photothermal conversion proficiency make it a good PTA for the photothermal treatment of bacteria. The antibacterial efficiency evaluation indicated that V 2 C NSs could effectively kill both Gram-positive S. aureus and Gram-negative E. coli . About 99.5% of both types of bacteria could be killed with low-dose of V 2 C NSs suspension (40 μg/mL) with 5 min NIR irradiation due to the intrinsic antibacterial ability and photothermal effect of V 2 C NSs, which is much higher than previous reports on Ta 4 C 3 , Ti 3 C 2 , MoSe 2 , and Nb 2 C. This work expands the application of MXene V 2 C NSs for rapid bacteria-killing and would gain promising attention for applications in the sterilization industry.