The influence of Gd3+ doping on the magnetocaloric properties of Nd0.6-xGdxSr0.4MnO3 (0.02 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) compounds, prepared using auto-combustion sol-gel technique, has been studied . Rietveld refinement of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) data has shown all compounds to be nanocrystalline with single-phased orthorhombic structures that index to the Pnma space group. The unit cell volumes reduce as the Gd3+ ions gradually substitute the Nd3+ones. The tuning Mn4+/Mn3+ ratio for all compounds, which are slightly lower than that of the Gd-free compound, demonstrates almost equal amounts of both ions. A ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic transition is observed with rising temperature wherein the Curie temperature (TC) gradually drops with increasing Gd3+ concentration (x). All materials exhibit ferromagnetism at 2 K, with saturation magnetization values that increase slightly with x. Both the calculated maximum magnetic entropies () and relative cooling powers (RCP) increase to relatively large values with increasing temperature and x values. The values obtained for and RCP for Nd0.6-xGdxSr0.4MnO3 (0.02 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) are comparable with those of standard pure Gd revealing their potential as magnetic refrigeration systems.
Read full abstract