Understanding synergistic bridging of MOFs in mechanical energy harvesting through triboelectric generation

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) show promise for sustainable energy harvesting; however, their development faces challenges due to the limited performance of traditional polymers, such as PDMS and PTFE. This drives interest in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which offer high surface area, tunable porosity, and customizable chemical functionality that can help overcome these limitations. In this review, we thoroughly analyze the application of MOFs in TENGs by exploring structural design strategies, ligand modifications, and layer engineering, as well as assessing performance results from recent studies. We highlight essential findings indicating that electron-withdrawing groups, such as –NO2, –F, and –SO3H, notably increase tribonegativity. Additionally, doping with conductive nanomaterials and employing machine learning approaches further boost power density. Finally, we propose that future advancements in this area should focus on addressing environmental sensitivity, mechanical brittleness, and synthesis complexity through molecular-level tailoring combined with scalable device engineering, ultimately paving the way for durable, high-efficiency MOF-based TENGs.