Cool stuff with ferroics – towards future solid state refrigeration
If a magnetic field is applied adiabatically to a system of magnetic
dipoles (or an electric field to a system of electric dipoles) it
heats up. If the field is removed, the temperature decreases
again. The corresponding temperature changes are particularly large in
materials close to ferroic phase transitions (e.g., ferromagnetic or
ferroelectric), and are considered as very promising route towards
more energy-efficient and less polluting cooling devices.
In this talk I will give a short introduction into the field of
“ferro-calorics” (with a focus on electro-caloric materials), and show
how we use ab-initio-based molecular dynamics simulations to better
understand what factors control the caloric response of a material and
how to optimize it for potential future technological applications.