Magnetic entropy change and large refrigerant capacity of Ce 6 Ni 2 Si 3 -type GdCoSiGe compound

Abstract

Magnetic entropy change (Δ S M ) and refrigerant capacity ( RC ) of Ce 6 Ni 2 Si 3 -type Gd 6 Co 1.67 Si 2.5 Ge 0.5 compounds have been investigated. The Gd 6 Co 1.67 Si 2.5 Ge 0.5 undergoes a reversible second-order phase transition at the Curie temperature T C = 296 K. The high saturation magnetization leads to a large Δ S M and the maximal value of Δ S M is found to be 5.9 J/kg · K around T C for a field change of 0–5 T. A broad distribution of the Δ S M peak is observed and the full width at half maximum of the Δ S M peak is about 101 K under a magnetic field of 5 T. The large