High Performance and Reprocessable in Situ Generated Nanofiber Reinforced Composites Based on Liquid Crystal Polyarylate.

Polymers are playing important roles in the rapid development of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). However, most polymers cannot meet the high requirements of thermomechanical performance. Thus, various polymeric composites have been developed for triboelectric layer. These composites are hardly recycled since their reinforcements are unevenly distributed after reprocessing, which limits the sustainable development of TENGs. To solve above challenges, in situ generated nanofiber reinforced composites (NFRCs) based on single-component liquid crystal polyarylate (LCP) are designed and prepared via a one-step polycondensation. Nonlinear naphthalene (NDA) widened the processing window of LCP without destabilizing liquid crystal phase. The NDA-rich domains act as matrix while the NDA-poor domains with higher rigidity form oriented nanofibers to achieve self-reinforcement. The resultant NFRCs possess high glass transition temperature (T g > 220 °C) and storage modulus (E' = 0.1 GPa at 350 °C), which are far beyond existing triboelectric polymers, typically T g < 110 °C and E' < 0.1 MPa (flowable) at 350 °C. Furthermore, NFRC based TENG exhibits superior electrical output performance and retention rate (> 90%) after reprocessing. Overall, this work offers a new design principle to prepare self-reinforced composites, which paves a way to explore high performance materials. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.