Influence of the critical point on the electrocaloric response of relaxor ferroelectrics

The electrocaloric effect (ECE), i.e., the conversion of electric energy into heat, is of great importance for application in new generation cooling or heating devices that would be friendlier to the environment. Here, utilizing direct measurements of the ECE change of the temperature Delta T via a high resolution calorimeter, we study the ECE as a function of the magnitude of the electric-field step E in the vicinity of the critical point in several bulk relaxor ferroelectric ceramic systems. Relatively large Delta T of similar to 2 to 3K were obtained at modest fields of 90 kV/cm, even in the case of ceramic materials. The effective responsivity Delta T/E as a function of the electric field shows a characteristic peak near the critical point, which demonstrates the importance of proximity to the critical point for the enhancement of the electrocaloric effect. Experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations based on the spherical random-bond random-field model. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3641975]