All-temperature barocaloric effects at pressure-induced phase transitions

Zhao, X.*; Zhang, Z.*; Hattori, Takanori; Wang, J.*; Li, L.*; Jia, Y.*; Li, W.*; Xue, J.*; Fan, X.*; Song, R.*; et al.

Nature Communications (Internet), 16, p.7713_1 - 7713_8, 2025/08

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63068-z

Caloric effects usually occur in the vicinity of solid-state phase transitions with a limited refrigeration temperature span. Here, we introduce and realize an unprecedented concept -all temperature barocaloric effect, i.e., a remarkable barocaloric effect in KPF across an exceptionally wide temperature span, from 77.5 to 300 K and potentially down to 4 K, covering typical room temperature, liquid nitrogen, liquid hydrogen, and liquid helium refrigeration regions. The directly measured barocaloric adiabatic temperature change reaches 12 K at room temperature and 2.5 K at 77.5 K upon the release of a 250 MPa pressure. This effect is attributed to a persistent phase transition to a rhombohedral high pressure phases. We depict the thermodynamic energy landscape to account for the structural instability. This unique all-temperature barocaloric effect presents a novel approach to highly applicable solid-state refrigeration technology, transcending the conventional multi-stage scenario.

Strong low-energy rattling modes enabled liquid-like ultralow thermal conductivity in a well-ordered solid

Liu, P.-F.*; Li, X.*; Li, J.*; Zhu, J.*; Tong, Z.*; Kofu, Maiko*; Nirei, Masami; Xu, J.*; Yin, W.*; Wang, F.*; et al.

National Science Review, 11(12), p.nwae216_1 - nwae216_10, 2024/12

https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae216

Giant barocaloric effects in sodium hexafluorophosphate and hexafluoroarsenate

Zhang, Z.*; Hattori, Takanori; Song, R.*; Yu, D.*; Mole, R.*; Chen, J.*; He, L.*; Zhang, Z.*; Li, B.*

Journal of Applied Physics, 136(3), p.035105_1 - 035105_8, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0211085

Solid-state refrigeration using barocaloric materials is environmentally friendly and highly efficient, making it a subject of global interest over the past decade. Here, we report giant barocaloric effects in sodium hexafluorophosphate (NaPF) and sodium hexafluoroarsenate (NaAsF) that both undergo a cubic-to-rhombohedral phase transition near room temperature. We have determined that the low-temperature phase structure of NaPF is a rhombohedral structure with space group R and NaAsF, i.e., F, E, and A. The phase transition temperature varies with pressure at a rate of dT/dP = 250 and 310 K/GPa for NaPF and NaAsF. The pressure-induced entropy changes of NaPF and NaAsF are determined to be around 45.2 and 35.6J kgK, respectively. The saturation driving pressure is about 40 MPa. The pressure-dependent neutron powder diffraction suggests that the barocaloric effects are related to the pressure-induced cubic-to-rhombohedral phase transitions.

A Systematic approach for the adequacy analysis of a set of experimental databases; Application in the framework of the ATRIUM activity

Baccou, J.*; Glantz, T.*; Ghione, A.*; Sargentini, L.*; Fillion, P.*; Damblin, G.*; Sueur, R.*; Iooss, B.*; Fang, J.*; Liu, J.*; et al.

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 421, p.113035_1 - 113035_16, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113035

Phase transformation and equation of state in Ti-45Al alloy under high pressure

Li, X.*; Zhu, R.*; Xin, J.*; Luo, M.*; Shang, S.-L.*; Liu, Z.-K.*; Yin, C.*; Funakoshi, Kenichi*; Dippenaar, R. J.*; Higo, Yuji*; et al.

CALPHAD; Computer Coupling of Phase Diagrams and Thermochemistry, 84, p.102641_1 - 102641_6, 2024/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.calphad.2023.102641

Grain size independence of cryogenic strain recovery behavior in high-Zr -Ti alloy

Zhang, B.*; Xin, S.*; Huang, M.*; Mao, W.; Jia, W.*; Li, Q.*; Li, S.*; Zhang, S.*; Mao, C.*

Materials Science & Engineering A, 890, p.145898_1 - 145898_7, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2023.145898

A significant increase in the recovery strain of a high-Zr -Ti alloy from 2.25 % to 5.5 % when decreasing the deformation temperature from 300 K to 77 K is reported in this study. It is found that the super-elasticity of this alloy is independent of the -grain size at 77 K. The results reveal that a coarse-grained specimen exhibited approximately the same super-elasticity as its ultra-fine grain counterpart at 77 K. The relative easiness of deformation-induced martensitic transformation and dislocation slip was substantially changed at 77 K, with a strong suppression of dislocation slip, which overshadowed the effect of grain refinement on the super-elasticity.

Direct observation of topological magnon polarons in a multiferroic material

Bao, S.*; Gu, Z.-L.*; Shangguan, Y.*; Huang, Z.*; Liao, J.*; Zhao, X.*; Zhang, B.*; Dong, Z.-Y.*; Wang, W.*; Kajimoto, Ryoichi; et al.

Nature Communications (Internet), 14, p.6093_1 - 6093_9, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41791-9

neutron diffraction study on the deformation behavior of the plastic inorganic semiconductor AgS

Wang, Y.*; Gong, W.; Kawasaki, Takuro; Harjo, S.; Zhang, K.*; Zhang, Z. D.*; Li, B.*

Applied Physics Letters, 123(1), p.011903_1 - 011903_6, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0158607

First observation of the decay of the 13/2 isomer in Hg and (2) systematics of neutron transitions across the nuclear chart

Huang, H.*; Zhang, W. Q.*; Andreyev, A. N.; Liu, Z.*; Seweryniak, D.*; Li, Z. H.*; Guo, C. Y.*; Barzakh, A. E.*; Van Duppen, P.*; Andel, B.*; et al.

Physics Letters B, 833, p.137345_1 - 137345_8, 2022/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2022.137345

Micro- to nano-scale areal heterogeneity in pore structure and mineral compositions of a sub-decimeter-sized Eagle Ford Shale

Wang, Q.*; Hu, Q.*; Zhao, C.*; Yang, X.*; Zhang, T.*; Ilavsky, J.*; Kuzmenko, I.*; Ma, B.*; Tachi, Yukio

International Journal of Coal Geology, 261, p.104093_1 - 104093_15, 2022/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2022.104093