Large electrocaloric effect across the non-hysteretic electrostructural phase transition in lead-free (Ba0.88Ca0.12)(Ti0.94Sn0.06)O3 ceramics

Structural, dielectric, and electrocaloric properties were investigated in Pb-free ceramic (Ba0.88Ca0.12)(Ti0.94Sn0.06)O3 (BCST), synthesized using solid-state sintering method. Rietveld refinement of room temperature XRD data revealed the existence of pure perovskite tetragonal (P4mm) phase. Temperature-dependent XRD analyses confirmed a structural transition from tetragonal to cubic phase near 380 K. Temperature-dependent dielectric constant (εr) and specific heat capacity (Cp) confirmed the presence of thermal hysteresis in two phase transitions near 233±10K and 254±10K, and a non-hysteretic behavior at the Curie temperature (TC∼373±10K). A comprehensive Raman study corroborated the existence of phase transitions. Electrocaloric properties were determined using indirect method utilizing the non-hysteretic nature across TC. A large adiabatic temperature change of |∆T| = 0.52 K, isotropic entropy change |∆S| = 0.68 J/kg.K, electrocaloric coefficients, |∆T/∆E |= 0.311 K.mm/kV and |∆S/∆E| = 0.41 J.mm/K.kg.kV were obtained at 380 K for an electric field of 16.7 kV/cm. Obtained value of |∆T/∆E| is relatively good, reported among other BaTiO3-based ceramics.