Barocaloric effect in ferroelastic Pb₃(VO₄)₂

The barocaloric effect is considered as one of the most promising refrigeration with the potential to replace traditional gas compression refrigeration. One of the main obstacles to the application of barocaloric materials lies in the requirement for high driving pressures. In this paper, we report on the barocaloric effect of Pb₃(VO₄)₂, which exhibits a ferroelastic transition from a high-temperature trigonal structure to a low-temperature monoclinic structure at 357 K, accompanied by a substantial volume change. The entropy change induced by hydrostatic pressure can reach up 14 J⋅kg⁻¹⋅K⁻¹ under a relatively low pressure of 80 MPa. This work is expected to expand the selection range of barocaloric materials.