Electrodes of Ti3C2Tx MXene-modified cotton fabrics for wearable triboelectric nanogenerators

Abstract Metal-free devices are critical components for incorporation into wearables due to comfort and flexibility requirements, as well as the drawbacks of oxidation and skin contact, making modified textiles with conductive fillers promising electrode materials. Herein, Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene is incorporated into a cotton textile, which uses a single electrode triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with the skin and an Ecoflex layer as tribopairs. This combination results in a device with an open-circuit voltage of 220.5 V, yielding a maximum power density of 42 µW/cm 2 , opening the door to promising applications for devices activated by simple finger touch. As a proof of concept, a two-level system for communication with hospital patients is provided by combining two TENGs disposed as tactile sensors in the input of a microcontroller with an output in a speaker, making it possible to communicate with minimal finger movement, with the skin considered as a tribopositive layer in the assembled TENG.