UC Berkeley

The electrocaloric properties of polydomain epitaxial Pb(Zr1-x,Tix)O3 thin films are investigated using a Ginzburg-Landau-Devonshire thermodynamic model as a function of strain, temperature, and composition for 0.65 ≤ x ≤ 1. Polarization transitions driven by epitaxial strain and extrinsic contributions from domain wall displacements are found to dramatically impact the electrocaloric response. Careful choice of epitaxial misfit strain and composition allows one to harness the intrinsic and extrinsic contributions to obtain large adiabatic temperature changes much below the Curie temperature of the material.