Surface wettability modification of polymers for use in electrocaloric heat pumps

IF 5.3 2区材料科学 Q1 MATERIALS SCIENCE, COATINGS & FILMS

Surface & Coatings Technology Pub Date : 2025-03-26 DOI:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132080

Maria Barrera , Daniel Pinkal , Michael Wegener , Cordula Vogel , Fred Fietzke

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Due to their relatively high electrocaloric activity and mechanical flexibility, relaxor ferroelectric terpolymers are being used in the fabrication of electrocaloric cooling and heating devices, in which the heat transfer is done by latent heat when a fluid condenses on (or evaporates from) their surface. This work focuses on improving the surface wettability of flexible polyimide foils, which have been utilized to encapsulate electrocaloric terpolymers for enhancing heat transfer efficiency. The polyimide foils were exposed to a combination of plasma etching and metal oxide thin film deposition using magnetron sputtering technology. With the aim of achieving a complete wetting surface, sputtering parameters such as pulse times, gas concentration and treatment time were varied. The chemical and physical properties of the treated surfaces were analyzed, and their influence on wetting performance was investigated at macro-, micro-, and nanoscale levels. The findings of this study have significant implications for the development of more efficient and reliable electrocaloric heat pumps, contributing to the advancement of environmentally friendly, energy-efficient solid-state cooling and heating technologies.

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来源期刊

Surface & Coatings Technology 工程技术-材料科学：膜

CiteScore

10.00

自引率

11.10%

发文量

921

审稿时长

19 days

期刊介绍： Surface and Coatings Technology is an international archival journal publishing scientific papers on significant developments in surface and interface engineering to modify and improve the surface properties of materials for protection in demanding contact conditions or aggressive environments, or for enhanced functional performance. Contributions range from original scientific articles concerned with fundamental and applied aspects of research or direct applications of metallic, inorganic, organic and composite coatings, to invited reviews of current technology in specific areas. Papers submitted to this journal are expected to be in line with the following aspects in processes, and properties/performance: A. Processes: Physical and chemical vapour deposition techniques, thermal and plasma spraying, surface modification by directed energy techniques such as ion, electron and laser beams, thermo-chemical treatment, wet chemical and electrochemical processes such as plating, sol-gel coating, anodization, plasma electrolytic oxidation, etc., but excluding painting. B. Properties/performance: friction performance, wear resistance (e.g., abrasion, erosion, fretting, etc), corrosion and oxidation resistance, thermal protection, diffusion resistance, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity, and properties relevant to smart materials behaviour and enhanced multifunctional performance for environmental, energy and medical applications, but excluding device aspects.