(Phys.org)—Researchers have built an electrocaloric refrigerator the size of a beverage coaster that can generate a temperature difference of about 2 K between the hot and cold ends of the device. The cooling mechanism, which is based on the electrocaloric effect, involves alternately applying and removing an electric field to a material to increase and decrease the material's temperature, respectively. The new cooling method can potentially achieve a higher efficiency than current methods, indicating that electrocaloric cooling devices may one day replace today's refrigerators and other cooling devices.
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