2020/08/17 by Kartik Sau, Sau, Kartik, Tamio Ikeshoji +12
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Adiabatic process #Condensed matter physics #FOS: Physical sciences #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Hydrogen Storage and Materials #Hysteresis #Isothermal process #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Materials science #Phase transition #Physics #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Refrigeration #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2008.07102
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University) · 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table
arxiv created 2020/08/17 · openalex publication_date 2020/08/17 · arxiv updated 2020/08/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
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 external fields and represents a promising alternative to current refrigeration methods. However, most of the caloric materials known to date present relatively small adiabatic temperature changes (|ΔT| ∼ 1 K) and/or limiting irreversibility issues resulting from significant phase-transition hysteresis. Here, we predict the existence of colossal barocaloric effects (isothermal entropy changes of |ΔS| ∼ 100 JK-1kg-1) in the energy material Li2B12H12 by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Specifically, we estimate |ΔS| = 387 JK-1kg-1 and |ΔT| = 26 K for an applied pressure of P = 0.4 GPa at T = 475 K. The disclosed colossal barocaloric effects are originated by an order-disorder phase transformation that exhibits a fair degree of reversibility and involves coexisting Li+ diffusion and (BH)12-2 reorientational motion at high temperatures.