Periodic Reporting for period 5 - BCOOL (Barocaloric materials for energy-efficient solid-state cooling)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-09-30
This action was aimed at developing new barocaloric materials by exploiting phase transitions in non-magnetic solids whose structural and thermal properties are strongly coupled. These materials are normally made from cheap abundant elements, and display very large latent heats and volume changes at structural phase transitions, which make them ideal candidates to exhibit extremely large barocaloric effects that outperform those observed in expensive barocaloric magnetic materials, and that match applications needs.
The outputs of the action include the development of colossal barocaloric effects in organic and hybrid organic-inorganic materials that display thermal changes on-par with commercial gas refrigerants, and the development of the first-ever barocaloric prototype.
My research team studied barocaloric effects in a number of non-magnetic solids that are made from cheap abundant elements. We found colossal reversible barocaloric effects at room temperature that outperform those observed in the best barocaloric magnetic materials, and those predicted in inferior barocaloric ferroelectric oxides. Our exciting discoveries led to a number of patents, and attracted attention across the largest refrigeration companies in Europe, Asia and the US.