Soft electronic solid-state cooling

Research question

Air conditioning currently accounts for 10 % of global electricity use and is one of the major drivers for global growth in electricity demand and the International Energy Agency (IEA) has therefore identified cooling technology as a key area for reducing emissions and climate change. Vaporcompression refrigeration systems are today dominating the market, but they are associated with several issues including cost, efficiency, safety, greenhouse gases, and space. This project aims at developing an alternative cooling technology based on soft electronic solid-state cooling. The combination of soft electronics and polymeric caloric materials will be explored and developed, with the aim of substantially improving the efficiency and adiabatic temperature change in polymeric caloric materials.

Sustainability aspects

The project relates to three broad sustainability aspects: i) Energy efficient cooling. ii) Safe cooling with non-hazardous materials. iii) Cooling without the use of extremely potent greenhouse gases.