Large magnetocaloric effect in fine Gd2O3 nanoparticles embedded in porous silica matrix

Abstract

The magnetocaloric properties of a composite material consisting of isolated GdO nanoparticles with a diameter of 6-8 nm embedded in the pores of a mesoporous silica matrix have been studied. The fascinating nanostructure and composition were properly characterized by small angle X-ray scattering, X-ray absorption near edge structure, and TEM. Almost ideal paramagnetic behavior of the material was observed in the temperature range of 1.8-300 K. When compared to various nanosystems, the presented composite exhibits an extraordinarily large magnetic entropy change of 40 J/kg K for a field variation of 0-5 T at cryogenic temperature (3 K). Considering only the mass of the GdO nanoparticle fraction, this corresponds to 120 J/kg K. Calculated refrigerant capacities are 100 J/kg and 400 J/kg for the composite and nanoparticles, respectively. Our findings suggest that the combination of the unique porous structure of amorphous silica with fine gadolinium oxide nanoparticles and high value of magnetic entropy change enables to extend the application of the GdO@SiO composite, to cryomagnetic refrigeration. In addition, the characteristics of the thermomagnetic behavior have been studied using the scaling analysis of the magnetic entropy change.