Large electrocaloric response over a broad temperature range near room temperature in BaxSr1−xTiO3 single crystals

Abstract

A nonlinear thermodynamic analysis is adopted to study the electrocaloric effect of BaxSr1−xTiO3 (BST) solid solutions. The results reveal that the location of maximum adiabatic temperature change ΔT can be shifted from a high temperature to room temperature via tuning chemical composition x. Comparing the electrocaloric properties of BST with those values reported in other electrocaloric materials, it is found that BST with x=0.7 shows a large electrocaloric response over a broad temperature range near room temperature and possesses a large electrocaloric strength ΔT/ΔE∼1.978×10−6 K m/V due to a significant change in polarization with respect to temperature. This suggests that BST with high electrocaloric performance has potential for practical cooling applications.