MBenes for Advanced Water Treatment and Desalination Membranes: A Bibliometric, Materials Engineering, and Future Perspectives Review

Water scarcity and rising demand for safe water continue to motivate the development of improved treatment and desalination membranes. MBenes are an emerging family of two-dimensional transition-metal borides derived from layered MAB phases. Material-level experiments and computational studies indicate potentially useful electronic, structural, and surface properties; however, direct evidence for MBene membranes remains limited. This review combines an author-generated bibliometric analysis of 279 Scopus-indexed records, retrieved on 14 April 2026, with a critical assessment of MBene synthesis, properties, and prospective membrane applications. Evidence from graphene, graphene oxide, transition-metal dichalcogenides, and MXenes is treated as analogous evidence rather than direct validation of MBene membrane performance. The analysis shows that MBene research is concentrated mainly in synthesis, computational modeling, catalysis, and energy storage, whereas experimentally validated water-treatment and desalination membranes are scarce. Priorities include reproducible MBene synthesis, controlled membrane fabrication, standardized performance testing, long-term stability and leaching assessment, and pilot-scale and techno-economic evaluation.