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A Pathway to Optimize the Properties of Magnetocaloric Mn2-xFexP1-yGey) for Magnetic Refrigeration

Published

Author(s)

D. M. Liu, Z. L. Zhang, S. L. Zhou, Qingzhen Huang, X. J. Deng, M. Yue, C. X. Liu, J. X. Zhang, Jeffrey W. Lynn

Abstract

Magnetocaloric materials can be useful in magnetic refrigeration applications, but to be practical the magnetorefrigerant needs to have a very large magnetocaloric effect (MCE) near room temperature for modest applied fields (<2 Telsa) with small hysteresis and magnetostriction, and should have a complete magnetic transition, be inexpensive, and environmentally friendly. One system that may fulfill these requirements ins MnxFe2-xP1-yGey, and we have used neutron diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and magnetization measurements to study the effects of both crystallite size and Mn and Ge location in the structure on the ordered magnetic moment, MCE, and hysteresis of the material. We reveal how to tune the properties, and show that Fe0.83Mnd0.17^(P0.74Ge02.6) has a giant magnetocaloric effect (MCE) (35.5-1 K-1) near room temperature and in low magnetic fields (<1.2 T), and small thermal hysteresis Δ}Thys(<2 K). This material therefore is a good candidate for commercial magnetic refrigeration applications.
Citation
Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Volume
666

Keywords

Magnetic Refrigeration, Magnetocaloric, Neutron diffraction, crystal structure, magnetic phase transition, Ferromagnet, Giant Entropy, magnetization

Citation

Liu, D. , Zhang, Z. , Zhou, S. , Huang, Q. , Deng, X. , Yue, M. , Liu, C. , Zhang, J. and Lynn, J. (2016), A Pathway to Optimize the Properties of Magnetocaloric Mn<sub>2-x</sub>Fe<sub>x</sub>P<sub>1-y</sub>Ge<sub>y</sub>) for Magnetic Refrigeration, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=910898 (Accessed March 29, 2024)
Created February 28, 2016, Updated October 12, 2021