Caloric Materials: Tailoring Ångstrom-Scale Interactions for a Net-Zero Future

Physics Department Library, 3438 Ingersoll

Speaker: Karl G. Sandeman (Department of Physics, Brooklyn College and Physics Program, The Graduate Center)

Abstract: A caloric effect is the change of temperature in a material when it is exposed to a changing stimulus, which could be a magnetic field, electric field, pressure or elastic stress [1]. Caloric effects are largest at a phase transition and can form the basis of a gas-free refrigeration cycle. The magnetocaloric effect is one of the most studied caloric effects and has long been used to achieve millikelvin temperatures for research purposes [2].

This talk will describe how experimental and theoretical tools can be deployed in combination to study the structure-function relationship in caloric materials with the aim of optimizing known materials and predicting new ones. We will discuss how caloric materials are being used in a new generation of refrigerators that can form part of a net-zero greenhouse gas strategy. We will also examine how caloric materials can be used in the conversion of waste heat to power [3] and in novel hyperthermia treatments for cancer [4].

1 . I. Takeuchi and K.G. Sandeman, “Solid state cooling based on caloric materials” (invited). Physics Today 68, 48 (2015).
2 . K.G. Sandeman and S. Takei, “Magnetocaloric Materials” in Handbook of Magnetism. J.M.D. Coey and S.S.P. Parkin (Eds.). Springer, NY (2021).
3 . A.N. Tantillo, A. Barcza, V. Zellmann, M. Almanza, V. Basso, M. LoBue, N.M. Dempsey and K.G. Sandeman, “Hard ferromagnets as a new perspective on materials for thermomagnetic power generation cycles”. Physics Letters A 461, 128632 (2023).
4. M. R. Barati, C. Selomulya, K. G. Sandeman, and K. Suzuki, “Extraordinary induction heating effect near the first order Curie transition”. Applied Physics Letters 105, 162412 (2014).