Advanced Magnetocaloric Materials for Energy Conversion: Recent Progress, Opportunities, and Perspective

Solid-state caloric effects as intrinsic thermal responses to different physical external stimuli (magnetic-, uniaxial stress-, pressure-, and electric-fields) can achieve a higher energy efficiency compared with traditional gas compression techniques. Among these effects, magnetocaloric energy conversion is regarded as the best available...

Enhanced reversibility of the magnetoelastic transition in (Mn,Fe)₂(P,Si) alloys via minimizing the transition-induced elastic strain energy

Magnetocaloric materials undergoing reversible phase transitions are highly desirable for magnetic refrigeration applications. (Mn,Fe)₂(P,Si) alloys exhibit a giant magnetocaloric effect accompanied by a magnetoelastic transition, while the noticeable irreversibility causes drastic degradation of the magnetocaloric properties...

Switching the magnetostructural coupling in MnCoGe-based magnetocaloric materials

We performed neutron-diffraction experiments and density functional theory calculations to study the magnetostructural coupling in MnCoGeBx (x=0, 0.01, and 0.05) alloys. By varying the amount of boron addition, we are able to freely switch the magnetostructural coupling on and off in the MnCoGe alloys. It is found that the boron addition...

Tuning the phase transition in transition-metal-based magnetocaloric compounds

Neutron-diffraction experiments on the (Mn,Fe)2(P,Si)-type compounds have shown a site preference of Si atoms in the hexagonal structure. The degree of ordering of Si depends on the Si/P ratio, while it is independent of the Mn/Fe ratio. The ferromagnetic-paramagnetic magnetoelastic transition is closely related to the size of the magnetic...