Advances in Caloric Materials

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2019)

Special Issue Editor

ParcTechnopolis Rabat, International University of Rabat, Rabat, Morocco
Interests: magnetic materials; magnetocaloric materials; caloric materials; magnetic refrigeration; multiferroics; nanomagnetic materials; thin films; single crystals; frustrated magnetism; permanent magnets; soft magnetic materials; structural and physical properties; energy conversion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With growing concerns about harmful gas emissions and the scarcity of energetic resources, one of the main challenges in the refrigeration industry and the international community is to search for clean cooling technologies with higher thermodynamic efficiency. In this context, solid-state materials that exhibit magnetocaloric, electrocaloric and mechanocaloric effects have recently attracted a worldwide interest, owing to their potential utilization as refrigerants in more compact, efficient, and ecofriendly systems. Such thermal responses can be induced by manipulating the ordering parameters of some specific materials when subjected to variations of magnetic, electric and stress fields, respectively. The implementation of these materials would enable us to fully phase out the hazardous synthetic refrigerants present in conventional cooling systems, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), while keeping high thermodynamic performance.

In the present Special Issue, we invite investigators to submit papers that discuss the crystalline structure, physical properties and practical aspects of solid-state caloric materials, including, but are not limited to, bulk forms, single crystals, thin films and nanomaterials.

The potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Magnetocaloric materials
  • Electrocaloric materials
  • Mechanocaloric materials
  • Bulk, thin films and nanomaterials
  • Growth of caloric materials
  • Crystalline structure and physical properties
  • Measurement of caloric effects under external excitations
  • Prediction of caloric effects in solid state materials
  • Interplay phenomena in caloric materials
  • Numerical simulation of thermodynamic cycles employing caloric materials
  • Experimental tests in functional caloric devices
  • Mechanical and chemical issues
  • Hysteretic effects in caloric materials
  • Electronic structure
  • Rotating magnetocaloric effect
  • Caloric devices

Dr. Mohamed Balli
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Magnetocaloric effect
  • Electrocaloric effect
  • Mechanocaloric effect
  • Caloric materials
  • Growth and synthesis
  • Characterization
  • Fundamental aspects
  • Practical aspects
  • Devices

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 2733 KiB  
Article
Magnetic Properties and Magnetocaloric Effect in Gd100-xCox Thin Films
by Mohamed Tadout, Charles-Henri Lambert, Mohammed Salah El Hadri, Abdelilah Benyoussef, Mohammed Hamedoun, Mohammed Benaissa, Omar Mounkachi and Stéphane Mangin
Crystals 2019, 9(6), 278; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst9060278 - 28 May 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3759
Abstract
We investigated the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Gd100-xCox ( x = 40 to 56) thin films fabricated by the sputtering technique. Under an applied field change Δ H = 20 kOe , the magnetic entropy change [...] Read more.
We investigated the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Gd100-xCox ( x = 40 to 56) thin films fabricated by the sputtering technique. Under an applied field change Δ H = 20 kOe , the magnetic entropy change ( Δ S m ) decreases from 2.64 Jkg−1K−1 for x = 44 to about 1.27 Jkg−1K−1 for x = 56. Increasing the Co concentration from x = 40 to 56 shifts the Curie temperature of Gd100-xCox ( x = 40 to 56) thin films from 180 K toward 337 K. Moreover, we extracted the values of critical parameters Tc, β, γ, and δ by using the modified Arrott plot methods. The results indicate the presence of a long-range ferromagnetic order. More importantly, we showed that the relative cooling power (RCP), which is a key parameter in magnetic refrigeration applications, is strongly enhanced by changing the Co concentration in the Gd100-xCox thin films. Our findings help pave the way toward the enhancement of the magnetocaloric effect in magnetic thin films. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Caloric Materials)
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15 pages, 12687 KiB  
Article
A Magnetocaloric Booster Unit for Energy-Efficient Air-Conditioning
by Maria Krautz, Maximilian Beyer, Christian Jäschke, Lars Schinke, Anja Waske and Joachim Seifert
Crystals 2019, 9(2), 76; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst9020076 - 01 Feb 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3882
Abstract
A concept for the application of a magnetocaloric device in energy-efficient air conditioners is introduced. In order to evaluate this concept, a test stand has been developed equipped with a magnetic field source providing about a 1.5-T flux density change into which different [...] Read more.
A concept for the application of a magnetocaloric device in energy-efficient air conditioners is introduced. In order to evaluate this concept, a test stand has been developed equipped with a magnetic field source providing about a 1.5-T flux density change into which different regenerator geometries can be implemented and evaluated. A processing route for the production of profiled magnetocaloric LaFeSiMn-based composite plates by tape casting is presented. The processed plates show a maximum isothermal entropy change of about 3.8 J kg 1 K 1 at a magnetic field change of 1.5 T at 285 K. The hydraulic and thermal performance of regenerator geometries that can be realized by profiled plates is assessed by calculations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Caloric Materials)
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27 pages, 6848 KiB  
Article
Structure and Magnetic Properties of Bulk Synthesized Mn2−xFexP1−ySiy Compounds from Magnetization, 57Fe Mössbauer Spectroscopy, and Electronic Structure Calculations
by Daniel Fruchart, Sonia Haj-Khlifa, Patricia de Rango, Mohamed Balli, Ryszard Zach, Wieslaw Chajec, Piotr Fornal, Jan Stanek, Stanislaw Kaprzyk and Janusz Tobola
Crystals 2019, 9(1), 37; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst9010037 - 13 Jan 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3731
Abstract
The series of Mn2−xFexP1−ySiy types of compounds form one of the most promising families of magnetocaloric materials in term of performances and availability of the elemental components. Potential for large scale application needs to optimize the [...] Read more.
The series of Mn2−xFexP1−ySiy types of compounds form one of the most promising families of magnetocaloric materials in term of performances and availability of the elemental components. Potential for large scale application needs to optimize the synthesis process, and an easy and rather fast process here described is based on the use of two main type of precursors, providing the Fe-P and Mn-Si proportions. The series of Mn2−xFexP1−ySiy compounds were synthesized and carefully investigated for their crystal structure versus temperature and compared interestingly with earlier results. A strong magnetoelastic effect accompanying the 1st order magnetic transition—as well as the parent phosphide–arsenides—was related to the relative stability of both the Fe magnetic polarization and the Fe–Fe exchange couplings. In order to better understand this effect, we propose a local distortion index of the non-metal tetrahedron hosting Fe atoms. Besides, from Mn-rich (Si-rich) to Fe-rich (P-rich) compositions, it is shown that the magnetocaloric phenomenon can be established on demand below and above room temperature. Excellent performance compounds were realized in terms of magnetic entropy ΔSm and adiabatic temperature ΔTad variations. Since from literature it was seen that the magnetic performances are very sensitive to the synthesis process, correspondingly here a new effective process is proposed. Mössbauer spectroscopy analysis was performed on Mn-rich, equi-atomic Mn-Fe, and Fe-rich compounds, allowing determination of the distribution of hyperfine fields setting on Fe in the tetrahedral and pyramidal sites, respectively. Electronic structure calculations confirmed the scheme of metal and non-metal preferential ordering, respectively. Moreover, the local magnetic moments were derived, in fair agreement with both the experimental magnetization and the Fe contributions, as determined by Mössbauer spectroscopy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Caloric Materials)
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12 pages, 3352 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Different Atomic Substitution at Mn Site on Magnetocaloric Effect in Ni50Mn35Co2Sn13 Alloy
by Chengfen Xing, Hu Zhang, Kewen Long, Yaning Xiao, Hanning Zhang, Zhijie Qiu, Dai He, Xingyu Liu, Yingli Zhang and Yi Long
Crystals 2018, 8(8), 329; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst8080329 - 18 Aug 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3413
Abstract
The effect of different atomic substitutions at Mn sites on the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties in Ni50Mn35Co2Sn13 alloy has been studied in detail. The substitution of Ni or Co for Mn atoms might lower the Mn [...] Read more.
The effect of different atomic substitutions at Mn sites on the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties in Ni50Mn35Co2Sn13 alloy has been studied in detail. The substitution of Ni or Co for Mn atoms might lower the Mn content at Sn sites, which would reduce the d-d hybridization between Ni 3d eg states and the 3d states of excess Mn atoms at Sn sites, thus leading to the decrease of martensitic transformation temperature TM in Ni51Mn34Co2Sn13 and Ni50Mn34Co3Sn13 alloys. On the other hand, the substitution of Sn for Mn atoms in Ni50Mn34Co2Sn14 would enhance the p-d covalent hybridization between the main group element (Sn) and the transition metal element (Mn or Ni) due to the increase of Sn content, thus also reducing the TM by stabilizing the parent phase. Due to the reduction of TM, a magnetostructural martensitic transition from FM austenite to weak-magnetic martensite is realized in Ni51Mn34Co2Sn13 and Ni50Mn34Co2Sn14, resulting in a large magnetocaloric effect around room temperature. For a low field change of 3 T, the maximum ∆SM reaches as high as 30.9 J/kg K for Ni50Mn34Co2Sn14. A linear dependence of ΔSM upon μ0H has been found in Ni50Mn34Co2Sn14, and the origin of this linear relationship has been discussed by numerical analysis of Maxwell’s relation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Caloric Materials)
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