Scientists Invent New Method of Refrigeration

Ionocaloric cooling is the name given to a new method of refrigeration developed by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and published in the journal Science. Ionocaloric cooling uses salt made with iodine and sodium as well as the organic solvent ethylene carbonate, which is used in lithium-ion batteries, to drive the refrigeration cycle. Like other caloric cycles used for refrigeration, ionocaloric cooling takes advantage of how heat is absorbed and released during solid-to-liquid phase changes, but it does this by using ions contained in salt.