With a periodic table recipe and a hefty $30,000 LIFT2 grant, University physics professor Shane Stadler went to the lab and created a cooling material. Joined by a University team of a post-doctorate, a graduate student and three undergraduate students, Stadler offers an eco-friendly alternative to refrigeration techniques.
By alloying a compound of nickel, manganese and silicon with one of iron, cobalt and germanium, the elements form a new full compound, which is the material Stadler and his group produced.
Magnetic Cool, a local entrepreneurial venture company, was “basically created to develop this [product],” Stadler said. The company plans to eventually develop a device that utilizes the material to advance magnetic and solid state cooling technology.
Stadler said his new invention is not only economically beneficial, but energy efficient.
“It’s a fairly rare occurrence where basic material science like what we do can contribute almost directly to local economy,” he said.
After studying types of magnetic cooling materials for the past decade, Stadler said he discovered some materials, including his, would transition from magnetic to non-magnetic, and also change structures in the process. As the temperature changes, he said the material’s structure alters from hexagonal to cubic.
From these phase transitions, Stadler said scientists could explore magnetocaloric properties, and if those transpire, they can further investigate cooling properties.
“Sometimes we get lucky and find something that works really well, like this one,” he said, pointing to his material.
The physics professor boiled the benefits of his product down to three components — “ease on the environment,” higher efficiency and simpler operation of devices.
From an environmental perspective, Stadler said the air conditioning, refrigerators and freezers most commonly used today utilize gaseous coolants detrimental to the environment. He said frequent leakage causes problems in the ozone and upper atmosphere.
Rather than a gaseous form, Stadler’s material is a powder. Composed of what he deemed as “safe, benign elements,” its impact on the ozone is minimal.
Stadler said his method, known as “solid state caloric cooling,” is also 50 percent more effective than conventional gaseous cooling systems. Additionally, he said Magnetic Cool’s potential device would work much simpler than traditional gas devices.
“Eventually, any place where you have a normal gas refrigerator or a cooler or AC system, this type of technology could replace it,” he said.
Ahmad Us Saleheen, a graduate student who helped Stadler develop the material, worked in synthesizing the material and conducting compression measurements. He also created a device for the material that applied pressures to a sample chamber.
After working to develop the material for the past four years, Saleheen said Magnetic Cool’s optioning and licensing of the product was “very satisfying” to see. From his measurements and calculations, he said he has been anticipating the results for quite a while.
“It’s basically a real-life demonstration that you can apply different pressures to,” Saleheen said.
Since Magnetic Cool’s optioning and licensing and the University’s patenting of the product, Stadler said the next step is commercialization. Though he does not know when it will hit the market, he said most people expect it to take another five years or so.
“It’s hard to predict these things,” Stadler said.

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Catherine Seddon

LSU physics professor Shane Stadler and some of his students invented and patented a material that could make cooling systems more energy efficient and enviormentally friendly on Feb. 29.