Despite the challenges of practical implementation, electrocaloric (EC) cooling remains a
promising technology because of its good scalability and high efficiency. Here, we investigate the
feasibility of an EC cooling device that couples the EC and electromechanical (EM) responses of a
highly functionally, efficient, lead magnesium niobate ceramic material. We fabricated multifunctional
cantilevers from this material and characterized their electrical, EM and EC properties. Two active
cantilevers were stacked in a cascade structure, forming a proof-of-concept device, which was then
analyzed in detail. The cooling effect was lower than the EC effect of the material itself, mainly
due to the poor solid-to-solid heat transfer. However, we show that the use of ethylene glycol in
the thermal contact area can significantly reduce the contact resistance, thereby improving the heat
transfer. Although this solution is most likely impractical from the design point of view, the results
clearly show that in this and similar cooling devices, a non-destructive, surface-modification method,
with the same effectiveness as that of ethylene glycol, will have to be developed to reduce the thermal
contact resistance. We hope this study will motivate the further development of multifunctional
cooling devices