Electrocaloric response near room temperature in Zr- and Sn-doped BaTiO3 systems

摘要

The electrocaloric effect (ECE) in (1−x)BaZr0.18 Ti0.82O3–(x)BaSn0.11Ti0.89O3 (BZT18–BST11, 0.1≤x≤0.5) ceramics is investigated near room temperature using a calorimetry method. The ceramics exhibit relaxor-like ferroelectric characteristics and by merging phases, a large electrocaloric (EC) response is observed in the system. The largest entropy change is 4.8 Jkg⁻¹ K⁻¹ (along with a temperature change of 3.5 K), which is induced under an electric field of 10 MV m⁻¹ for the 0.8 BaZr0.18Ti0.82O3–0.2 BaSn0.11Ti0.89O3 ceramics. This result reveals that the coexistence of multiple phases improves the ECE of the ceramics, which provides an effective route to achieve a large EC response using a small electric field.This article is part of the themed issue ‘Taking the temperature of phase transitions in cool materials’.