Electrocaloric and elastocaloric effects in soft materials
Materials with large caloric effect have the promise of realizing solid-state refrigeration which has potential to be more efficient and environmentally friendly compared with current cooling technologies. Recently, the focus of caloric effects investigations has shifted towards soft materials. An o...
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| Published in: | Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences Vol. 374; no. 2074; p. 20150301 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
England
The Royal Society Publishing
13-08-2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Materials with large caloric effect have the promise of realizing solid-state refrigeration which has potential to be more efficient and environmentally friendly compared with current cooling technologies. Recently, the focus of caloric effects investigations has shifted towards soft materials. An overview of recent direct measurements of the large electrocaloric effect (ECE) in a composite mixture of a liquid crystal and nanoparticles (NPs) and large elastocaloric (eC) effect in main-chain liquid crystal elastomers is given. In mixtures of 12CB liquid crystal with functionalized CdSSe NPs, an ECE exceeding 5 K was found in the vicinity of the isotropic to smectic A phase transition. It is shown that the NPs smear the isotropic to smectic coexistence range in which a large ECE is observed due to latent heat enhancement. NPs acting as traps for ions reduce the moving-ion density and consequently the Joule heating. Direct eC measurements indicate that the significant eC response can be found in main-chain liquid crystalline elastomers, but at a fraction of the stress field in contrast to other eC materials. Both soft materials could play a significant role as active cooling elements or parts of thermal diodes in development of new cooling devices.
This article is part of the themed issue ‘Taking the temperature of phase transitions in cool materials’. |
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| Bibliography: | Discussion meeting issue 'Taking the temperature of phase transitions in cool materials' organized and edited by Neil D. Mathur and Xavier Moya ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 One contribution of 16 to a discussion meeting issue ‘Taking the temperature of phase transitions in cool materials’. |
| ISSN: | 1364-503X 1471-2962 |
| DOI: | 10.1098/rsta.2015.0301 |