Solid-state heating using the multicaloric effect in multiferroics

Abstract

The multicaloric effect is defined as the adiabatic temperature change in multiferroic materials induced by the application of an external electric or magnetic field, and it was first proposed in 2012. The multicaloric effects in multiferroics, as well as other similar caloric effects in single-ferroics, have been the focus of much research due to their potential commercialization in solid-state refrigeration. In this short communication ar-ticle we examine the thermodynamics of the multicaloric effect for solid-state heating applications. A possible thermodynamic multicaloric heating cycle is proposed, and then implemented to estimate the solid-state heating effect for a known electrocaloric system. This work offers a path to the implementation of caloric and multicaloric effects to effi-cient heating systems and we offer a theoretical estimate of the upper limit of the tem-perature change achievable in a multicaloric cooling or heating effect.