Highly tunable piezocaloric effect in antiferroelectric PbZrO3

A first-principles-based effective Hamiltonian approach is used to predict the existence of a highly tunable piezocaloric effect in antiferroelectric PbZrO3. The high tunability originates from a strong dependence of both the magnitude and sign of the piezocaloric temperature change on the initial temperature and the nature of the stress. The linearity of the temperature response to the applied stress allows for the doubling of the efficiency of the basic solid state refrigeration cycle. The large values and high tunability of the piezocaloric effect in antiferroelectrics is traced to the strong coupling between the multiple order parameters that coexist in such materials. An experimental setup for the demonstration of such an unusual effect is proposed.