Alternate-Layered MXene Composite Film-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator with Enhanced Electrical Performance

The output power of the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) strongly depends on the performance of triboelectric materials, especially microstructures and functional groups of them. In this work, aiming at the excellent triboelectric ability, alternate-layered MXene composite films-based TENG with abundant fluorine groups(-F) through layer-by-layer stacking are designed and fabricated. Benefitting from the uniform intrinsic microstructure and increased dielectric constant, when the amount of the Nb(2)CT(x) nanosheets increases to 15 wt%, the TENG based on Nb(2)CT(x)/Ti(3)C(2)T(x) composite nanosheets films achieves the maximum output. The short-circuit current density of 8.06 μA/cm(2) and voltage of 34.63 V are 8.4 times and 3.5 times over that of pure Ti(3)C(2)T(x) films, and 3.3 times and 4.3 times over that of commercial poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) films, respectively. Furthermore, the fabricated TENG could be attached to human body to harvest energy from human motions, such as typing, texting, and hand clapping. The results demonstrate that the alternate-layered MXene composite nanosheet films through layer-by-layer stacking possess remarkably triboelectric performance, which broaden the choice of negative triboelectric materials and supply a new choice for high output TENG. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s11671-021-03535-w.