Inspired by honeycombs, a low-cost cooling structure lasts over 100 million cycles

As global demand for cooling continues to grow, the urgent need for sustainable refrigeration technologies is becoming increasingly evident. Conventional vapor-compression systems remain energy-intensive, while the refrigerants can contribute to the greenhouse effect. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) research team has manufactured a low-cost, ultradurable elastocaloric refrigerant structure, inspired by the stacked porous architecture of honeycombs, that operated for more than 100 million cooling cycles with an estimated service life of more than 10 years.