Theory of electrocaloric effect in a shape-changing container: gas in a nanotube.

Driven by applied voltage or Ohmic heating, bistable nanotubes filled with gas can transform between expanded and collapsed configurations and by doing so convert energy between mechanical, electrical, and thermal forms. The electrocaloric response, a reversible change of temperature in response to applied voltage, combines the advantages of a working fluid with the lack of internal interfaces characteristic of robust solid-state thermoelectric devices. Such devices could be constructed from any conductive two-dimensional atomically thin material wrapped into an appropriate geometry.