Giant rotating magnetocaloric effect enhanced by crystal electric field in antiferromagnetic ErNi3Al9 single crystal

Abstract

We report on giant rotating magnetocaloric effect in antiferromagnetic ErNi3Al9 single crystal with the trigonal structure. It is found that the signs of the magnetic entropy change for the field along the c axis and ab plane above the Néel temperature are opposite due to the crystal electric field. Therefore, the giant rotating magnetocaloric effect is obtained in ErNi3Al9 single crystal, and even larger than the conventional one. The maximum rotating magnetic entropy change and refrigerant capacity are 14.7 J/kg K and 180.3 J/kg under 50 kOe. In particularly, the value of rotating adiabatic temperature change reaches 9 K under 50 kOe at 10 K. Our results indicate that ErNi3Al9 single crystal could be an attractive candidate for novel rotating magnetic refrigeration at low temperature region. Most importantly, it is further revealed that giant rotating magnetocaloric effect in ErNi3Al9 single crystal should be attributed to the crystal electric field anisotropy, which may pave a new way to search for novel materials possessing giant rotating magnetocaloric effect.