Colossal barocaloric effects in the complex hydride Li 2 B 12 H 12
Traditional refrigeration technologies based on compression cycles of greenhouse gases pose serious threats to the environment and cannot be downscaled to electronic device dimensions. Solid-state cooling exploits the thermal response of caloric materials to changes in the applied external fields (i...
| Autores: | , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2021 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/355950 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/355950 https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91123-4 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Condensed Matter Physics Materials science Ciència dels materials Matèria condensada Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Física |
| Sumario: | Traditional refrigeration technologies based on compression cycles of greenhouse gases pose serious threats to the environment and cannot be downscaled to electronic device dimensions. Solid-state cooling exploits the thermal response of caloric materials to changes in the applied external fields (i.e., magnetic, electric and/or mechanical stress) and represents a promising alternative to current refrigeration methods. However, most of the caloric materials known to date present relatively small adiabatic temperature changes (|¿T|~1 to 10 K) and/or limiting irreversibility issues resulting from significant phase-transition hysteresis. Here, we predict by using molecular dynamics simulations the existence of colossal barocaloric effects induced by pressure (isothermal entropy changes of |¿S|~100 J K-1 kg-1) in the energy material Li2B12H12. Specifically, we estimate |¿S|=367 J K-1 kg-1 and |¿T|=43 K for a small pressure shift of P = 0.1 GPa at T=480 K. The disclosed colossal barocaloric effects are originated by a fairly reversible order–disorder phase transformation involving coexistence of Li+ diffusion and (BH)-212 reorientational motion at high temperatures. |
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