Richness of Ferroelectrics for Caloric Cooling

The search for alternative solid-state refrigeration materials to hazardous gases in conventional and cryogenic cooling devices is a very active field of condensed matter. The use of phase transitions is a powerful tool to achieve giant caloric effects in ferroic materials in which magnetization, polarization, strain and/or volume can be strongly tuned under a moderate external stimulus. Here, we explore various features of ferroelectric materials to reveal their potentialities as solid state coolers. This includes their phase transitions, the multiphase and critical points, their stress-sensitivity, their inverse electrocaloric effect, the asymmetry in non-ergodic states, the use of dual-stimuli multiferroics or intentionnally introduced defects. These aspects will be put in perspective of the recent works in the literature.