Abstract
Based on the experimental data of the isothermal polarization
P
(
T
,
E
) of BaHf
0.11
Ti
0.89
O
3
bulk ceramic, entropy change (∆
S
), temperature change (∆
T
), and heat carrying capacity (∆
Q
) of the material are evaluated in detail using an artificial neural network (ANN) procedure. As a result, the maximum ECE occurs above
T
C
and shifts to higher temperatures with increasing applied field. The BaHf
0.11
Ti
0.89
O
3
ceramic exhibits large ECE parameters around the Curie temperature (
T
C
) associated with a relatively broad electrocaloric temperature span. Furthermore, under different electric fields, many figures of merit such as relative cooling power, temperature-averaged entropy change, and normalized refrigerant capacity are explored, making the sample a promising material for green cooling devices. Such figures of merit increase monotonically with the enhancement of the applied field. In addition, the field dependence of the ∆
S
and ∆
T
is thoroughly investigated. The master curve and the exponent n controlling the field dependence of both magnitudes confirm the second-order character of the electric phase transition of the sample. The ANN method provides very accurate and fast predictions with a small amount of experimental data. Therefore, this method accelerates the characterization of novel electrocaloric materials by shortening the time necessary for experimentation.