Electrocaloric cooling-From materials to devices

More than a decade of active electrocaloric (EC) material research has produced several EC materials that exhibit a giant electrocaloric effect (ECE) at high electric fields, which is assured by direct measurement. These EC materials have enabled the demonstration of EC cooling devices, which exhibit temperature lifts of more than 10 K. These research and development efforts have revealed the critical importance of electrical breakdown, which is common in all electric and dielectric materials and devices under high voltages and electric fields. In general, the electric field for reliable device operation of dielectrics has to be less than 25% of the typical electric breakdown strength. To realize EC cooling devices with competitive performance requires advanced EC materials that generate large ECE (delta T > 5 K) under these low electric fields. Double-bond (DB) defect modified P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) relaxor polymers, as reported recently, generate large ECE under low electric fields without any fatigue effects even after 1 x 10(6) field cycles. These relaxor ferroelectrics promise to meet the application challenge. A closely coupled experimental and theoretical study of EC materials will undoubtedly lead to advanced EC materials that generate large ECE at low electric fields beyond the DB modified relaxor polymers. This will result in practical and high-performance EC coolers, which are environmentally benign, compressor-free, and highly efficient. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

Automated summary

More than a decade of research has led to the development of EC materials that exhibit a giant electrocaloric effect at high electric fields and enables EC cooling devices. Electrical breakdown is a critical issue that needs to be addressed for reliable device operation. Advanced EC materials that generate large electrocaloric effect at low electric fields are required for competitive performance.