The impact of the P-E hysteresis on the performance of electrocaloric cooling

ABSTRACT

In this work, we consider the impact of the P-E hysteresis on the performance of electrocaloric cooling using the phenomenological theory of ferroelectrics. For reasons of simplicity, we use approximations of sufficiently small electric fields and polarization. A large electrocaloric effect was obtained for a slim P-E hysteresis (small remnant polarization and coercive field) and a weak dependence of the dielectric permittivity on the electric field.

KEYWORDS:

• Ferroelectrics
• P-E hysteresis
• electrocaloric effect

Funding

This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the Priority Program “Ferroic Cooling” (SPP1599, project B6).