Fe2+-assisted MXene fibers pave way for next-generation smart textiles

In the advancement of human-machine interaction and intelligent wearable devices, high-performance multifunctional fiber materials are crucial for enabling natural, efficient human-machine interaction and seamless system integration.

Recently, Professor Qiang Zhao's team from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications has achieved a significant breakthrough in this field. Utilizing a novel Fe²⁺-assisted dynamic assembly strategy, they successfully fabricated multifunctional Ti₃C₂T_x MXene fibers that possess both ultrahigh mechanical strength and excellent electrical conductivity. This achievement effectively addresses the long-standing bottleneck where electrical conductivity and mechanical strength are difficult to balance, providing a robust material foundation for the development of multifunctional electronic textiles.

The team published their research findings in Nano Research on January 9, 2026.

“Our work demonstrates a simple yet effective ion-mediated assembly method. Through the dynamic coordination bridging of Fe²⁺, we finely tune the arrangement and interactions of MXene nanosheets at the nanoscale, resulting in significantly improved performance of the continuous fiber at the macroscopic level. This study offers a new approach to overcoming the performance bottlenecks of 2D material fibers,” said Jianmin Li, corresponding author of the paper, professor in College of Electronic and Optical Engineering & College of Flexible Electronics (Future Technology), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications.

Traditional MXene fibers often struggle to maintain high electrical conductivity alongside strong mechanical properties, which limits their applications in high-end flexible electronics. To tackle this challenge, the research team innovatively introduced Fe²⁺ ions as interfacial bridging media. During the wet-spinning process, Fe²⁺ coordinates with the functional groups on the surface of MXene nanosheets, firmly connecting adjacent nanosheets like "molecular rivets". This guides the formation of a dense, highly ordered microstructure within the fibers. This structure not only endows the fibers with exceptional mechanical durability but also constructs regular and efficient electron transport channels, realizing a synergistic enhancement of both structure and function.

The multifunctional MXene fiber demonstrates broad application potential across several areas of wearable technology. For thermal management, it exhibits excellent Joule heating effects, enabling rapid temperature elevation to meet wearable heating demands. In energy storage, the fiber possesses outstanding pseudocapacitive energy storage capacity, with fiber-based supercapacitors prepared from it delivering superior performance surpassing most reported MXene-based fiber devices. In electromagnetic shielding, weaving the fiber into programmable mesh textiles achieves effective electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. Collectively, this research provides a viable pathway for fabricating high-performance multifunctional fibers, promising to inject new momentum into the development of next-generation smart electronic textiles and integrated wearable systems.

The research team noted that this strategy of regulating the interface and assembly of 2D nanosheets through multivalent metal ion coordination s highly universal and extensible. It serves as a blueprint for the future design of other high-performance composite fibers. “This research not only successfully produced MXene fibers with outstanding comprehensive performance but also provided an important technical pathway for next-generation integrated, intelligent flexible electronics. In the future, by further optimizing the assembly processes, such fibers are expected to play a key role in health monitoring, human-machine interaction, portable energy, and military protection,” Professor Li said.

Other contributors include Wenkun Fei, Xuejiao Wang, Chaoyang Miao, Jiahao Chen, Shujuan Liu, Bingxiang Li and Qiang Zhao from Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications (NJUPT) in Nanjing, China.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22105106), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (Grant No. BK20210603), the Jiangsu Youth Science and Technology Talent Support Program (Grant No. JSTJ-2025-063), Nanjing Science and Technology Innovation Project for Overseas Students (Grant No. NJKCZYZZ2022-05), Start-up Funding from NUPTSF (Grant No. NY221003), and Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX24_1171).

DOI Link:

https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2026.94908426

About Nano Research

Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 8,000 articles. In 2025 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2025 IF is 9.4 (8.3, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.