The electrocaloric response in Lanthanum-modified lead zirconate titanate ceramic

TL;DR

This paper investigates how annealing affects the electrocaloric effect in La-modified lead zirconate titanate ceramics, demonstrating a significant enhancement in electrocaloric response compared to other relaxor ferroelectrics.

Contribution

It presents the first direct measurement of the electrocaloric effect in 12/65/35 PLZT ceramics and shows annealing significantly improves this effect.

Findings

Electrocaloric response exceeds previous relaxor ferroelectrics.

Annealing enhances the electrocaloric effect.

Direct measurement confirms significant electrocaloric response.

Abstract

Over the past decades, there has been significant interest in new cooling technology based on the electrocaloric effect. The large electrocaloric effect observed in polymeric and inorganic ferroelectric materials made possible development of dielectric cooling devices of a new generation. We report a significant impact of annealing on the electrocaloric effect observed in 12/65/35 PLZT bulk ceramics. The electrocaloric data were obtained by direct measurements. Electrocaloric results confirm the existence of the significant electrocaloric response in this relaxor ferroelectric PLZT composition exceeding previously obtained electrocaloric values in perovskite relaxor ferroelectrics such as PMN-PT and x/65/35 PLZT ceramics.