Advances in MXene-Enabled triboelectric nanogenerators: From material chemistry to emerging applications

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have emerged as a promising technology for harvesting ubiquitous mechanical energy and enabling self-powered electronic systems. However, achieving high output performance, long-term stability, and environmental robustness remains a critical challenge, largely governed by the intrinsic properties of triboelectric materials. Recently, MXenes, a rapidly expanding family of two-dimensional transition-metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides, have attracted significant attention for TENG applications owing to their exceptional electrical conductivity, tunable surface chemistry, mechanical flexibility, and abundant functional groups. This review presents a comprehensive and critical assessment of MXene-enabled TENGs, covering representative materials including Ti 3 C 2 T x , Ti 3 CNT x , Nb 2 CT x , Mo 2 CT x , and V 2 CT x . This review systematically analyzes their synthesis routes, structural features, interfacial properties, and multifunctional roles in device architectures. Particular emphasis is placed on the mechanisms by which MXenes enhance triboelectric performance through dielectric modulation, charge trapping, suppression of charge recombination, moisture resistance, and enlarged effective contact area. Their versatility enables deployment as conductive electrodes, triboelectric active layers, nanocomposite reinforcements, and interfacial charge-management components. Furthermore, this review highlights emerging applications in wearable electronics, human–machine interfaces, biomedical sensing, intelligent monitoring systems, and artificial intelligence-assisted platforms. Despite remarkable advances, key challenges related to oxidation susceptibility, scalable manufacturing, cost-effectiveness, and power-density optimization continue to limit practical deployment. Finally, this study identifies critical research opportunities and future directions for MXene engineering, device design, and system integration. By elucidating the fundamental interactions between MXenes and triboelectric systems, this review establishes a roadmap for the development of high-performance, durable, and application-ready next-generation TENG technologies.