Wide working temperature range and large electrocaloric effect in BaTiO₃ based ceramics achieved by regulating phase boundaries through a compensatory ion co-doping strategy

Electrocaloric refrigeration shows the merits of environmental safeguarding, large efficiency, easy combination, and miniaturization as a novel solid-state refrigeration technique. In this paper, Sn⁴⁺ is doped into the B site of BLNT ceramics. By adjusting the doping content, the T-C phase transition peak was successfully shifted to room temperature and promoted the formation of relaxor ferroelectrics, resulting in a wider operating temperature range (T_span) and improved adiabatic temperature change (ΔT). A comprehensive study was conducted on the crystal structure, surface morphology, dielectric properties, ferroelectricity, and electrical properties of BLNTS ceramics with varying levels of Sn⁴⁺ doping. Wherein, when the doping amount is 5Sn, a maximum adiabatic temperature change value (ΔT_max) of 1.14 K was obtained, and the temperature span (T_span) reached 45 °C (T_span is defined as ΔT ≥ 80 % ΔT_max). This work proposes a high-performance environmentally friendly electrocaloric effect (ECE) material suitable for solid-state cooling applications.