Giant electrocaloric effect in lead-free Ba0.94Ca0.06Ti1−xSnxO3 ceramics with tunable Curie temperature

Electrocaloric effect in lead-free Ba0.94Ca0.06Ti1−xSnxO3 ceramics is studied using an indirect method. The Ba0.94Ca0.06Ti0.875Sn0.125O3 ceramic located near a multi-phase point shows best electrocaloric performance, which provides further experimental evidence for optimizing electrocaloric properties through constructing multiphase coexistence. Giant electrocaloric efficiency (∼0.4 K mm/kV) is achieved in this ceramic at about room temperature at a low electric field of 6 kV/cm. While large electrocaloric temperature (∼0.63 K) is obtained by further enhancing electric field (20 kV/cm), a decrease in electrocaloric efficiency (0.32 K mm/kV) is simultaneously observed, which is attributed to phase transition from first-order to more diffusive second-order under higher electric field.