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Enhanced electrocaloric effect within a broad temperature range in lead-free polymer composite films by blending the rare-earth doped BaTiO3 nanopowders

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Abstract

This paper investigates the electrocaloric effect (ECE) in polymer nanocomposite films containing ferroelectric poly (vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)] terpolymer matrix and lead-free nanopowders. The nanopowders include pure BaTiO3 and rare-earth substituted Ba0.94R0.04TiO3, where R = La, Nd, Sm, prepared by a modified sol-hydrothermal method. The substitution influences the lattice parameters, but all samples exhibit a perovskite-type tetragonal phase. The dopant enhances the relaxation behavior of the matrix and decreases the current. Using the Maxwell equations, the ECE performance is systematically studied for all samples. As the rare-earth ionic radius decreases, the Curie temperature of the nanocomposite increases and the dielectric constant decreases. The isothermal entropy changes (ΔS), adiabatic temperature changes (ΔT), cooling energy densities (Q), and electrocaloric strengths versus temperature exhibit different dependences on electric field (E). The results demonstrate that rare-earth doping can effectively modify the ECE. Our composites achieve large EC strength values (|ΔT|/|ΔE|) of 7 to 21 μK m kV−1 over a wide temperature range of 25 to 60 °C and electric field range of 750 to 1250 kV cm−1 and provide typical examples of polymer ECE materials containing rare-earth doped nanopowders.

Graphical abstract

The preparation of the polymer nanocomposites and the adiabatic temperature changes and the corresponding electrocaloric strengths of the samples.

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Funding

This work is supported by the Basic Science Center Program for Ordered Energy Conversion of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51888103, 51606192) and the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Ziman Wang, Yin Gao, Yu Ma, Xixi Xie, Ming Yang & Hang Zhang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Ziman Wang, Yin Gao, Yu Ma, Xixi Xie, Ming Yang & Hang Zhang

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  1. Ziman Wang
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  2. Yin Gao
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Correspondence to Ming Yang or Hang Zhang.

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Wang, Z., Gao, Y., Ma, Y. et al. Enhanced electrocaloric effect within a broad temperature range in lead-free polymer composite films by blending the rare-earth doped BaTiO3 nanopowders. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 4, 469–477 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-021-00252-x

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