MXenes in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs): Present status and the future

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are a transformative class of next-generation devices for energy conversion and self-powered sensing. Selecting appropriate triboelectric and conductive materials is crucial for optimizing TENG performance. In recent years, MXenes, especially Ti₃C₂ MXene, have become highly promising candidates for both triboelectric and conductive materials in TENGs. Although many studies (including research and review articles) have focused on TENG construction and performance, there is a significant gap in the literature: a comprehensive summary of MXene applications from a materials science perspective, along with a detailed explanation of the reasons and advantages of using MXenes in TENGs.

Recently, a team of led by Prof. Aiguo Zhou at Henan Polytechnic University analyzed the applications of MXene in TENGs and classify the applications from a materials science perspective. Based on the functional layers of TENGs where MXenes are applied, the applications are divided into four types: (1) MXene films as conductive layers, (2) MXene films as triboelectric layers, (3) MXene nanosheets as fillers in polymer-based triboelectric layers, and (4) MXene films as charge trapping layers. The reasons and advantages of using MXenes in each application are analyzed and explained. Due to their unique combination of properties such as electronegativity, electrical conductivity, and flexibility, MXenes show remarkable versatility in all functional layers, either as pure films or composite films. Especially, MXene composite films are particularly promising for these applications.

The team published their work in Journal of Advanced Ceramics on May 4, 2025.

“In this review, we classify the applications of MXene in the different layers of TENG into four types: conductive layer, triboelectric layer, filler of polymer film as triboelectric layer, and charge trapping layer. MXene exhibits excellent performance in all the four types of applications,” said Aiguo Zhou, professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University (China), a senior expert whose research interest include the preparation and application of a family of ternary carbides/nitrides with layered structure (MAX phase) and a family of novel 2D materials (MXene).

“As conductive layers, the advantages of MXene pure films are summarized as: excellent flexibility/stretchability, high charge trapping ability, diversity processibility, rich surface termination. Due to the advantages, pure films or composite films of MXene can be made. And the films are flexible/stretchable, highly conductive, highly charge trapping as conductive layers of TENGs for self-powered sensing. However, there are significant disadvantages to being a conductive layer for TENG. MXene films are easily oxidized in air/water and its long-term stability as flexible sensors is poor.” said Aiguo Zhou.

“As triboelectric layers, the advantages of MXene films are summarized as: high electronegativity, high conductivity, no-conductive substrates acceptable. The MXene films as triboelectric layer exhibit excellent performance and do not require conductive layers.” said Aiguo Zhou.

“As fillers of polymer films as triboelectric layers, the advantages of MXene nanosheets are summarized as: strong bonding with polymer matrix, high dielectric constant, strong electronegativity, high conductivity. The composite films have high mechanical properties (such as strength, flexibility, and tensile properties) due to the polymer matrix, and MXene filler endows the composite films with certain electrical conductivity and enhanced electron-gain capability. Furthermore, the polymer matrix protects the MXene fillers from oxidation. The oxidation in air/water of MXene is the main shortcoming that limits the application of MXenes. Due to the advantage, the polymer films with MXene as fillers exhibit excellent mechanical properties and triboelectric performance for energy harvesting. However, there are some disadvantages. First, the preparation process of composite films is relatively complicated. MXene composite with polymer such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) usually needs to be prepared by the electrostatic spinning method. The spinning solution preparation process is relatively difficult, which increases the difficulty and cost of composite film preparation. Second, there is the problem of leakage current. MXene tends to form a conductive network in the polymer matrix, which can lead to a significant increase in leakage current between the composite film and the conductive layer, which in turn reduces the output performance of the TENG.” said Aiguo Zhou.

“As charge trapping layers, the advantages of MXene films are summarized as: excellent charge ability due to high electronegativity, high charge transfer ability due to high conductivity, easily be processed into films, strong adhesion to metal and polymer films. Due to the advantage, MXene films exhibit excellent performance to trap charges from triboelectric layer and transfer to conductive layer.” said Aiguo Zhou.

“The most popular method is to use MXene as fillers to make polymer composite films. The composite films have high mechanical properties (strength, flexibility, stretchability, etc.), due to the polymer matrix. Additionally, the composite films have some conductivity, strong electron-gain ability, due to the MXene fillers. Moreover, the polymer matrix protects the MXene fillers from oxidation. The oxidation in air/water of MXene is the main shortcoming that limits the application of MXenes. Thus, the polymer composite films with MXene as fillers is a very promising area for the application of MXene in TENGs.” said Aiguo Zhou.

However, more extensive research works are still needed to explore ideal MXene/polymer films as triboelectric layers for TENG. In this regard, Zhou also proposed future research directions for MXene/polymer films, which include selection of MXene type, selection of polymer matrix, and design of TENG work mode and structure for polymer/MXene composite films.

Other contributors include Jiacheng Fan, Guanglei Zhang, Jia Yang from Henan Polytechnic University, China.

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (52372284), Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (232300421135).

About Author

Aiguo Zhou received his Ph.D. degree from Drexel University in Materials Engineering in 2008. Currently, he is a professor of School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University. His research interests include the preparation and application of a family of ternary carbides/nitrides with layered structure (MAX phase) and a family of novel 2D materials (MXene).

About Journal of Advanced Ceramics

Journal of Advanced Ceramics (JAC) is an international academic journal that presents the state-of-the-art results of theoretical and experimental studies on the processing, structure, and properties of advanced ceramics and ceramic-based composites. JAC is Fully Open Access, monthly published by Tsinghua University Press, and exclusively available via SciOpen. JAC’s 2023 IF is 18.6, ranking in Top 1 (1/31, Q1) among all journals in “Materials Science, Ceramics” category, and its 2023 CiteScore is 21.0 (top 5%) in Scopus database. ResearchGate homepage: https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Journal-of-Advanced-Ceramics-2227-8508