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

AbstractFlammability 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 (ε′ = 4.8) and fibrous‐structured morphology of LCPAEE. The device can maintain over 65% of open‐circuit voltage even after 16 s combustion (≈520 °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.