Maria A. Barrera

Due to their relatively high electrocaloric activity and mechanical flexibility, relaxor ferroelectric terpolymers are being used in the fabrication of electrocaloric cooling and heating devices, in which the heat transfer is done by latent heat when a fluid condenses on (or evaporates from) their surface. This work focuses on improving the surface wettability of flexible polyimide foils, which have been utilized to encapsulate electrocaloric terpolymers for enhancing heat transfer efficiency.

Solid-state cooling devices offer a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to traditional refrigeration methods. The present work addresses a critical challenge in these systems: effective heat transfer through enhanced surface wettability. In this study, ceramic electrocaloric components were coated with magnetron-sputtered (Ti, Si)O2/WO3 thin films.