Project description
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.
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 (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
08007 BARCELONA
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.