Electrocaloric effect enhancement in compositionally graded ferroelectric thin films driven by a needle-to-vortex domain structure transition

Obtaining large electrocaloric (EC) effects in ferroelectric materials is a prerequisite for incorporating them into advanced solid-state cooling devices. Based on phase-field simulations, we propose an effective approach for improving the EC effect near room temperature in compositionally graded ferroelectric (CGFE) thin films (e.g., Pb 1 − x Sr x TiO 3 ) by controlling the compositional gradient along the direction of the thickness of the...