Large barocaloric effects at low pressures in natural rubber

[Display omitted] •Vulcanized natural rubber (V-NR) was analyzed at low applied pressures.•V-NR presents large thermal and entropic barocaloric effects.•Temperature change vs. maximum pressure follows a power law. Barocaloric effect in vulcanized natural rubber (V-NR) has been investigated. Direct measurements of the temperature change (ΔT) around room temperature (283–333K) resulted in large values, above 10K, for a pressure change of 173MPa. A power law was proposed to fit ΔT as function of the maximum pressure, showing to be suitable for the barocaloric effect in V-NR. Strain was measured as a function of temperature at constant pressures in order to obtain the isothermal entropy change (ΔST). At 293K, we obtained a ΔST of 21Jkg−1K−1 for a pressure change of only 43.4MPa. The results presented in this work are compared with those reported recently for PVDF-TrFE-CTFE polymer, showing a better barocaloric performance for V-NR in similar temperature and pressure ranges. These findings evidence the high potential of V-NR for application in solid-state refrigeration based on confined compression, opening new possibilities for i-caloric materials.