Instrument development for barocaloric performances and fatigue assessments

Barocaloric materials hold significant promise for solid-state cooling, but their development is limited by challenges in precisely measuring the adiabatic temperature change under realistic conditions. Existing methods struggle with achieving adiabaticity, accurate in situ temperature sensing, continuous high-pressure stability, and fatigue testing. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel multifunctional experimental platform. This system integrates high-pressure generation, a specialized pressure cell, and advanced temperature control, enabling high-precision in situ temperature measurements under near-adiabatic conditions. Validation with standard materials confirmed its accuracy, with temperature-pressure curves closely matching theoretical predictions, and simulations verified high adiabatic performance during rapid depressurization. The platform successfully characterized various barocaloric materials and demonstrated its capability for evaluating fatigue performance through cyclic pressurization-depressurization. This standardized tool provides an effective solution for performance screening and mechanistic investigation, thereby accelerating the practical development of room-temperature solid-state refrigeration technologies.