  Barocaloric effect in vulcanized natural rubber (V-NR) has been investigated.
Direct measurements of the temperature change ({\Delta}T) around room
temperature (283-333 K) resulted in large values, above 10 K, for a pressure
change of 173 MPa. A power law was proposed to fit {\Delta}T 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 ({\Delta}ST). At 293 K, we obtained a
{\Delta}ST of 21 J.kg-1K-1 for a pressure change of only 43.4 MPa. 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.
