2025/01/02 by Samantha L. Piper, Leena Melag, Mega Kar +7 · 44 citations
Chemistry · Engineering · Materials Science · #Air conditioning #Chemistry #Dielectric materials and actuators #Engineering physics #Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials #Ion #Ionic bonding #Materials science #Organic chemistry #Phase transition #Physics #Plastic crystal #Refrigeration #Shape Memory Alloy Transformations #Thermodynamics
paper · open access · doi:10.1126/science.adq8396
published in Science 387(6729), 56-62 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 2025/01/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Barocaloric (BC) materials offer the potential for highly energy-efficient refrigeration by generating heat absorption through the effect of pressure on a solid-solid phase transition. However, very few of the known materials have the required phase transition in the temperature regions necessary for domestic refrigeration or air conditioning. We introduce organic ionic plastic crystals (OIPCs) as a new family of BC materials. OIPCs display subambient transition temperatures, so-called "colossal" entropy changes (92 to 240 joules per kilogram per kelvin), and a high sensitivity to pressure, up to 23.7 kelvin per kilobar. The BC responses achieved with these prototype OIPC-BCs are tunable through structural modification of the ions; this wide matrix of possible combinations of structure and function indicates the scope of OIPCs as a new class of material for efficient and sustainable cooling technologies.