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Giant Barocaloric Effects in Natural Rubber: A Relevant Step toward Solid-State Cooling
journal contribution
posted on 2017-12-14, 20:09 authored by N. M. Bom, W. Imamura, E. O. Usuda, L. S. Paixão, A. M. G. CarvalhoSolid-state cooling
based on i-caloric effects
has shown to be a promising alternative to the conventional refrigeration
devices. Only very recently, the research on barocaloric materials
is receiving a deal of attention due to the demonstration of giant
barocaloric effects in shape-memory alloys. Regarding polymers, there
is still a lack of literature, despite their high caloric potential.
Thus, we present here giant barocaloric effects in natural rubber,
a low-cost and environmental friendly elastomer polymer. The maximum
values of entropy and temperature changes are larger than those previously
reported for any promising barocaloric material. Moreover, the huge
normalized temperature change and refrigerant capacity exhibited by
natural rubber confirm its high potential for cooling applications.
We also verify a relevant dependence of the barocaloric effect on
the glass transition in natural rubber. Our findings suggest that
commercial refrigeration devices based on barocaloric effects from
elastomer polymers can be envisaged in the near future.