Large magnetocaloric effect in antiferromagnetic ternary carbide Dy2Cr2C3 around liquid hydrogen temperature

Abstract

Field-induced magnetic transitions with large magnetization difference and mitigated thermal loss are highly desirable for the development of magnetocaloric materials used for magnetic refrigeration. Here, we report the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in antiferromagnetic carbide Dy2Cr2C3. Both the inverse MCE (with positive magnetic entropy change ΔSM) and conventional MCE (with negative ΔSM) have been observed, which are attributed to a field-induced first-order metamagnetic transition from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic state and a second-order ferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition, respectively. A maximum -ΔSM of 13.5 J/kg K at 27 K for a field change of 5 T, and correspondingly a refrigerant cooling power of 315 J/kg in a wide working temperature span of 31 K have been achieved. Such a remarkable magnetocaloric response, together with the minor magnetic hysteresis of less than 0.02 T, indicate that Dy2Cr2C3 carbide could be a promising candidate refrigerant for magnetic refrigeration working at temperatures near the liquid H2.