Topotactic synthesis of DyVO3; an investigation of magnetocaloric effect

Abstract

The orthovanadate DyVO3 has been synthesized by reducing DyVO4 in H2 environment. The material crystallizes in an orthorhombic crystal structure at room temperature (space group Pbnm). The antiferromagnetic transition of the vanadium sublattice is observed near 114 K. The effect of an external magnetic field on spin re-arrangement in the vanadium sublattice has been studied. The magnetic entropy change has been calculated from the isothermal magnetization measured in the magnetic field 0–5 T. At 2 K, the M−H isotherm saturates with the increasing magnetic field. The maximum magnetic entropy change (-ΔSMmax) has been estimated to be 12.9 J kg−1 K−1 at an applied external magnetic field of 5 T around 17 K, and a relative cooling power ∼ 348 J/kg. The maximum entropy change occurs around the ordering temperature of the Dy-sublattice. The significant -ΔSMmax and relative cooling power values suggest it to be a better magnetocaloric material than several other polycrystalline perovskite compounds.