Introduction to the electrocaloric effect

Nowadays, solid-state refrigeration technologies based on the magneto-, baro-, and electrocaloric effects are becoming increasingly important in view of accelerating climate change, problems with gas emissions, and microelectronics demands. Of these, the electrocaloric effect (ECE) has clear advantages of high efficiency, environmental friendliness, light weight, low cost, and easy miniaturization. Theoretically, it could be an ideal technology for the replacement of traditional compressor refrigeration or localized cooling for microelectronic components. However, many problems exist, including materials and technological issues that must be solved before the electrocaloric effect is widely used in the abovementioned applications. Ferroelectric perovskites, which produce large polarization changes upon the application or removal of an electric field, are recognized as the most promising materials for the development of solid-state refrigeration devices based on the electrocaloric effect. However, other materials have appeared, as have novel approaches for the implementation of ECE in real devices. This chapter briefly discusses the history and principles of ECE and introduces the content of this book, which is devoted to the recent developments in ECE materials processing and characterization, ECE device modelling, and their implementation in electrocaloric structures.