Colossal barocaloric effects near room temperaturein plastic crystals of neopentylglycol

There is currently great interest in replacing the harmful volatile hydrofluorocarbonfluidsused in refrigeration and air-conditioning with solid materials that display magnetocaloric,electrocaloric or mechanocaloric effects. However, thefield-driven thermal changes in all ofthese caloric materials f...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lloveras, Pol, Aznar, Araceli, Barrio, María, Negrier, Philippe, Popescu, C., Planes Vila, Antoni, Mañosa, Lluís, Stern Taulats, Enric, Avramenko, A., Mathur, Neil D., Moya Raposo, Xavier, Tamarit, Josep Lluís
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/132359
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/132359
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Matèria condensada
Refrigeració
Condensed matter
Cooling
Descripción
Sumario:There is currently great interest in replacing the harmful volatile hydrofluorocarbonfluidsused in refrigeration and air-conditioning with solid materials that display magnetocaloric,electrocaloric or mechanocaloric effects. However, thefield-driven thermal changes in all ofthese caloric materials fall short with respect to theirfluid counterparts. Here we show thatplastic crystals of neopentylglycol (CH3)2C(CH2OH)2display extremely large pressure-driven thermal changes near room temperature due to molecular reconfiguration, that thesechanges outperform those observed in any type of caloric material, and that these changesare comparable with those exploited commercially in hydrofluorocarbons. Our discovery ofcolossal barocaloric effects in a plastic crystal should bring barocaloric materials to theforefront of research and development in order to achieve safe environmentally friendlycooling without compromising performance.