This paper demonstrates the impact of composition on the electrocaloric effect in lead-free (1−x)BaZr0.2Ti0.8O3−xBa0.7Ca0.3TiO3 ceramics, especially on the morphotropic phase boundary. The samples exhibited typical diffused ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition, which was diffused the most around the tricritical point of rhombohedral, tetragonal, and cubic phases at x = 0.3. The x = 0.3 sample had the highest ΔTmax of 0.30 K under 20 kV/cm field and the widest cooling peak within a wide composition range, which endowed it with the best refrigeration capacity. Although the x = 0.7 sample had even higher ΔTmax, less diffused phase transition narrowed the cooling peak, which reduced the refrigeration capacity.
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Bai et al. (2013) studied this question.