# Colossal barocaloric effects near room temperature in plastic crystals of neopentylglycol

## TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of colossal barocaloric effects in neopentylglycol plastic crystals near room temperature, offering a promising environmentally friendly cooling alternative with performance comparable to traditional hydrofluorocarbons.

## Contribution

It introduces a new class of plastic crystal materials exhibiting unprecedented pressure-driven thermal changes suitable for cooling applications.

## Key findings

- Large pressure-driven thermal changes near room temperature
- Comparable to commercial hydrofluorocarbon cooling effects
- Potential for environmentally friendly refrigeration

## Abstract

There is currently great interest in replacing the harmful volatile hydrofluorocarbon fluids used in refrigeration and air-conditioning with solid materials that display magnetocaloric, electrocaloric or mechanocaloric effects. However, the field-driven thermal changes in all of these caloric materials fall short with respect to their fluid counterparts. Here we show that plastic crystals of neopentylglycol (CH3)2C(CH2OH)2 display unprecedentedly large pressure-driven thermal changes near room temperature due to molecular reconfiguration, and that these changes are comparable with those exploited commercially in hydrofluorocarbons. Our discovery of colossal barocaloric effects in a plastic crystal should bring barocaloric materials to the forefront of research and development in order to achieve safe environmentally friendly cooling without compromising performance.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1903.12010