Refrigeration has a transformative impact on improving daily living standards and driving economic growth. The current refrigeration system is primarily based on vapor-compression technology, which utilizes refrigerants with notable global warming potential. Cooling through solid-state caloric materials has therefore been considered a green and effective alternative. The principle behind this technology is the so-called caloric effect, encompassing magneto-caloric, electro-caloric, baro-caloric, and elasto-caloric effects. These effects are defined as the adiabatic temperature or isothermal entropy changes of materials induced by external fields, such as magnetic fields, electric fields, hydrostatic pressure, and uniaxial stress, respectively. Caloric materials have been widely studied across various categories, including metal alloys, ceramics, polymers, plastic crystals, and organic-inorganic compounds.

The goal of caloric cooling research is to develop a caloric heat pump suitable for practical use. To achieve this goal, materials that demonstrate superior caloric effects have attracted significant attention within the scientific community. Consequently, there is a critical need to employ chemistry in the design and synthesis of caloric materials. In addition to the caloric effect, thermophysical properties such as specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity play crucial roles in practical applications. Despite the impressive caloric effects observed in barocaloric and electrocaloric materials, their thermal conductivity tends to be lower compared to magnetocaloric and elastocaloric materials. Addressing this challenge requires either enhancing thermal conductivity through chemical modification or developing composites that incorporate high thermal conductivity compounds. Therefore, achieving a comprehensive understanding and designing caloric materials from a phase structure perspective is essential. This involves manipulation at various levels, including atomic, molecular, nanoscale, microscale, and macroscale, through the strategic introduction of defects, dopants, or surfactants to modify the magnetic, electrical, mechanical, or thermal properties of the caloric material.

This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Review, Mini Review, and Perspective articles on themes including, but not limited to:
• Review papers focusing on the development of magneto-caloric, electro-caloric, baro-caloric, and elasto-caloric materials.
• Perspectives on recently developed superior caloric materials.
• Original research on caloric materials with new or unusual structures.
• Comprehensive studies on the structure of solid-state caloric materials.
• Strategies for enhancing the caloric effect or tuning thermal properties through defect engineering, molecular design, and other approaches.
• Newly developed methods for synthesizing caloric materials.

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Exploring Advanced Caloric Materials for Solid-state Cooling