Enhanced Magnetic Cooling through Tailoring the Size-Dependent Magnetocaloric Effect of Iron Nanoparticles Embedded in Titanium Nitride Thin Films

Abstract

The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in iron (Fe) nanoparticles incorporated within a titanium nitride (TiN) thin-film matrix grown using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is investigated in this study. The study demonstrates the ability to control the entropy change across the magnetic phase transition by varying the size of the Fe nanoparticles. The structural characterization carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning transmission electron (TEM) showed that TiN films are (111) textured, while the Fe-particles are mostly spherical in shapes, are single-crystalline, and have a coherent structure with the surrounding TiN thin-film matrix. The TiN thin-film matrix was chosen as a spacer layer since it is nonmagnetic, is highly corrosion-resistive, and can serve as an excellent conduit for extracting heat due to its high thermal conductivity (11 W/m K). The magnetic properties of Fe–TiN systems were investigated using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer. In-plane magnetic fields were applied to record magnetization versus field (M–H) and magnetization versus temperature (M–T) curves. The results showed that the Fe–TiN heterostructure system exhibits a substantial isothermal entropy change (ΔS) over a wide temperature range, encompassing room temperature to the blocking temperature of the Fe nanoparticles. Using Maxwell’s relation and analyzing magnetization–temperature data under different magnetic fields, quantitative insights into the isothermal entropy change (ΔS) and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) were obtained for the Fe–TiN heterostructure system. The study points out a considerable negative change in ΔS that reaches up to 0.2 J/kg K at 0.2 T and 300 K for the samples with a nanoparticle size on the order of 7 nm. Comparative analysis revealed that Fe nanoparticle samples demonstrate higher refrigeration capacity (RC) in comparison to Fe thin-film multilayer samples, with the RC increasing as the Fe particle size decreases. These findings provide valuable insights into the potential application of Fe–TiN heterostructures in solid-state cooling technologies, highlighting their enhanced magnetocaloric properties.