Ionocaloric cooling is a new method of heating and cooling that uses the flow of ions to cause a phase and temperature change in a material. It was developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and it is based on the concept of adding salt to a road before a winter storm to change when ice will form. The method could provide efficient heating and cooling and help phase out current refrigeration systems that use gases with high global warming potential as refrigerants. Ionocaloric cooling could also meet the goals of the Kigali Amendment, which commits signatories to reduce the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons by at least 80% over the next 25 years.
Source: DOI: 10.1126/science.ade1696