A solid-state refrigerator based on the electrocaloric effect

The electrocaloric effect offers an attractive alternative to the Peltier effect for compact high-efficiency solid-state refrigeration. We report an implementation and experimental characterization of a continuous electrocaloric refrigeration cycle where we use switchable liquid-based thermal interfaces to achieve reliable high-contrast thermal switching between an electrocaloric material and a heat source/sink. The experimentally measured temporal temperature profiles of a cooling load agree well with transient heat transfer modeling results. Our work experimentally validates the feasibility of electrocaloric refrigeration and motivates further applied research on device development.