Project description DEENESFRITPL Innovative research on refrigeration based on magnetic materials Increasing the efficiency and reducing the contaminant fingerprint of cooling engines is central in facing climate change. Refrigeration and air conditioning are dominated by low-performance refrigerants exploiting the compression of harmful greenhouse gases. Magnetic refrigeration is an environmentally friendly and more energy-efficient technology, but it is still commercially unattractive. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MULTICALORICS project will advance theoretical and experimental aspects of refrigeration based on magnetic materials. The project will focus on two innovative research directions: first, the simultaneous application of magnetic and mechanical stimuli to reduce their magnitude and maximise the cooling effect; second, the exploitation of an innovative boost to cooling performance arising from complex magnetic interactions. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Enhancing the efficiency and reducing the contaminant fingerprint of refrigeration and air conditioning are crucial in adapting to climate change and responding to high-energy demands, but cooling engines are presently dominated by low-performance refrigerants exploiting the compression of greenhouse harmful gases. Refrigeration exploiting magnetism has thus become a promising technology since it is environmentally friendly and more energy efficient. Typically, magnetic fields and mechanical stresses are applied to magnetic materials to generate cooling. However, this technology is still commercially unattractive because it relies on expensive neodymium-based permanent magnets to produce large enough magnetic fields and some mechanical materials suffer of fatigue that reduces their lifetime.I aim to advance both theoretical and experimental aspects of refrigeration based on magnetic materials by combining my expertise on theoretical magnetism with the know-how of experimentalists at the university of Barcelona on the experimental and thermodynamic study of solid-state materials. Our project focuses on two novel research directions: (1) The simultaneous application of magnetic and mechanical stimuli to reduce their magnitude and maximize the cooling effect. (2) The exploitation of a novel boost to cooling performance that I have recently predicted to arise from multisite interactions, which are complex interactions between atom-size magnetic degrees of freedom emerging from the cooperative behavior of many electrons gluing the magnetic material at the sub nano-scale. I will guide experimental efforts to overcome the performance limitations of current solid-state refrigeration in cost-effective magnetic materials by advancing the understanding of how to nanostructure magnetic materials with cooling power boosted by multisite interactions and by developing a new theory accounting for the coupling between the magnetism, the atom motion, and material elasticity. Fields of science natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicssolid-state physics Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2020 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF Coordinator UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA Net EU contribution € 160 932,48 Address GRAN VIA DE LES CORTS CATALANES 585 08007 Barcelona Spain See on map Region Este Cataluña Barcelona Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 160 932,48
