Two-Dimensional Materials Beyond Graphene for Biomedical and Healthcare Applications: Transition Metal Dichalcogenides, MXenes, Black Phosphorus, Xenes, Biosensors and Wearable Health Monitoring Platforms

Abstract

The isolation of graphene in 2004 initiated a rapidly expanding field of two-dimensional (2D) materials, many of which now offer biomedical functions that graphene alone cannot provide. Beyond graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), MXenes, black phosphorus (BP), Xenes, and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) possess tunable electronic structures, strong near-infrared (NIR) optical absorption, large surface-to-volume ratios, flexible mechanical behavior, and diverse surface chemistries. These properties make them promising candidates for drug delivery, photothermal and photodynamic therapy, bioimaging, tissue engineering, neural interfaces, field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors, and wearable or implantable health monitoring systems.

This review provides a unified assessment of 2D materials beyond graphene for biomedical and healthcare applications. We evaluate TMDs such as MoS₂, WS₂, and MoSe₂ for cancer drug delivery, photothermal therapy, multimodal imaging, and gene delivery. MXenes, particularly Ti₃C₂T_x and Nb₂CT_x, are reviewed for photothermal therapy, antibacterial coatings, immunotherapy, electrochemical biosensing, and next-generation neural interfaces. Black phosphorus is examined as a biodegradable theranostic and tissue-regenerative material, while Xenes including antimonene, bismuthene, borophene, and h-BN are discussed for phototherapy, CT imaging, biosensing, drug delivery, and boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). Finally, we critically assess biocompatibility, toxicology, biodegradability, scalability, regulatory pathways, and clinical translation readiness.

Although no 2D material beyond graphene has yet reached routine clinical use, several systems  including MXene neural electrodes, MoS₂ FET biosensors, BP-based biodegradable scaffolds, and borophene biosensors have reached advanced preclinical or high-performance prototype stages. We conclude that the future of 2D biomaterials will depend less on achieving isolated performance records and more on reproducible manufacturing, long-term safety va