High-Performance Liquid Crystalline Polymer for Intrinsic Fire-Resistant and Flexible Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Flammability is a great challenge in the fields of electronics. The emergence of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) provides a safe way to harvest environmentalally friendly energy and convert it into more secure power sources. Especially, polymer-based TENGs significantly accelerate the practical application of self-powered flexible electronics. However, most of the existing polymeric materials for TENGs are easily flammable and melt, dripping, in a fire scenario, and cannot be reused after combustion, which greatly limits the application of TENGs under extreme conditions. Herein, a fire-resistant TENG based on all-aromatic liquid crystalline poly(aryl ether ester) (LCPAEE) synthesized via simple and efficient one-pot melt polycondensation is reported. The highly rigid main chain of LCPAEE endows the LCP-TENG with outstanding anti-dripping, temperature- and fire-resistance. The resultant LCP-TENG exhibits excellent electrical output performance, which is attributed to the high dielectric constant (epsilon ' = 4.8) and fibrous-structured morphology of LCPAEE. The device can maintain over 65% of open-circuit voltage even after 16 s combustion (approximate to 520 degrees C). Consequently, this work offers a novel strategy for tailoring the TENGs toward a secure power generator and electronics with fire hazard reduction, and potential application in firefighting, personal protection, and other extreme temperature environments.

Automated summary

Flammability is a challenge for electronics, but triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) provide a safe way to convert environmental energy into power. Most polymeric materials for TENGs are easily flammable, limiting their applications in extreme conditions. This study presents a fire-resistant TENG based on a liquid crystalline polymer, offering outstanding anti-dripping, temperature- and fire-resistance properties.