Magnetocaloric effect in the (Mn,Fe)2(P,Si) system
From bulk to nano
F. Zhang (TU Delft - RST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy)
Chris Taake (Bielefeld University)
B. Huang (TU Delft - RST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy)
X. You (TU Delft - RST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy)
H. Ojiyed (External organisation)
Q. Shen (TU Delft - RST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy)
A.I. Dugulan (TU Delft - RID/TS/Instrumenten groep)
Luana Caron (Bielefeld University, Institute for Solar Fuels)
N.H. van Dijk (TU Delft - RST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy)
E.H. Brück (TU Delft - RST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy)
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Abstract
In the field of nanoscale magnetocaloric materials, novel concepts like micro-refrigerators, thermal switches, microfluidic pumps, energy harvesting devices and biomedical applications have been proposed. However, reports on nanoscale (Mn,Fe)2(P,Si)-based materials, which are one of the most promising bulk materials for solid-state magnetic refrigeration, are rare. In this study we have synthesized (Mn,Fe)2(P,Si)-based nanoparticles, and systematically investigated the influence of crystallite size and microstructure on the giant magnetocaloric effect. The results show that the decreased saturation magnetization (Ms) is mainly attributed to the increased concentration of an atomically disordered shell, and with a decreased particle size, both the thermal hysteresis and Tc are reduced. In addition, we determined an optimal temperature window for annealing after synthesis of 300–600 °C and found that gaseous nitriding can enhance Ms from 120 to 148 Am2kg−1 and the magnetic entropy change (ΔSm) from 0.8 to 1.2 Jkg−1K−1 in a field change of Δμ0H = 1 T. This improvement can be attributed to the synergetic effect of annealing and nitration, which effectively removes part of the defects inside the particles. The produced superparamagnetic particles have been probed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Mössbauer spectra and magnetic measurements. Our results provide important insight into the performance of giant magnetocaloric materials at the nanoscale.
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