Work

Direct Thermal Method to Characterize the Material Efficiency of Electrocaloric Lead Scandium Tantalate Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: In this study, we characterize electrocaloric lead scandium tantalate (PST) samples by means of the adiabatic temperature change ΔTad and the dissipative heat qdiss with a direct thermal method. The figure of merit (FOM), defined as the ratio between the adiabatic temperature change and the thermal hysteresis, quantifies the losses of the material. Additionally, it is also possible to draw conclusions on the efficiency of a caloric cooling system based on the regenerator or cascaded approach. The maximum adiabatic temperature change of the measured samples results in ΔTad,max=(1.39±0.02) K and the dissipative heat yields qdiss=(0.39±0.05) J/(kg K), resulting in an FOM=(5.1±0.2). The efficiency for an ideal cascaded system is given by ηcas=0.56, and for the ideal regenerator, the efficiency is given by ηreg=0.84. The results demonstrate that the PST material in this study exceeds the maximum FOM in the literature by 34%.

Source: Materials

DOI: 10.3390/ma18091924

Authors: Sabrina Unmüßig, David Bach, Julius Metzdorf, Patrick Corhan, Sakyo Hirose, Kilian Bartholomé

Institutions: Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques, Murata (Japan)

Language: English

Topic: Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials

Subfield: Materials Chemistry

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137