Enhanced electrocaloric effect in nanocomposite

The electrocaloric effect (ECE) is enhanced in ferroelectric relaxor terpolymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE-CFE))/ZrO₂ nanocomposites. It was observed that the interface effects between the polymer matrix and nano-fillers enhance the polarization response and provide additional electrocaloric entropy changes. As a consequence, the nanocomposites exhibit a larger ECE than that of the neat terpolymer, i.e., the adiabatic temperature change of the nanocomposite with 3 volume percent of nano-fillers is 120% of that of the neat terpolymer. The results, for the first time, demonstrate that ECE can be tailored and enhanced through nanocomposite approach in the ferroelectric polymers.

Details can be found at:

Chen, X. Z.; Li, X. Y.; Qian, X. S.; Wu, S.; Lin, M. R.; Shen, Q. D.; Zhang, Q. M., A nanocomposite approach to tailor electrocaloric effect in ferroelectric polymer. Polymer, 2013, 54 (20), 5299-5302.