Metamagnetism and Magnetocaloric Properties in a van der Waals Antiferromagnet CrOCl

Herein, the anisotropic magnetic properties of 2D van der Waals (vdW) insulator, chromium oxychloride (CrOCl), are presented. Temperature-dependent bulk magnetization reveals a paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition at approximate to 14 K (Neel temperature, T-N) while cooling. From the magnetic field-dependent magnetization study (M-H) at low temperature, a first-order field-induced (at or above 40 kOe) metamagnetic transition from antiferromagnetic to ferrimagnetic state has been observed. Noticeably, switching of the easy plane (ab-plane) of the magnetization to the c-axis can be identified above 29 kOe. Moreover, in the vicinity of T-N, under an applied magnetic field, magnetic entropy change (Delta S-M) can be estimated as 4.31 J kg(-1) K-1 for H//c. The results evoke further experiments on charge/spin transport properties of few-layer CrOCl in the nanoelectronic circuit framework for understanding the connection between crystallographic deformation and metamagnetism.

Automated summary

This article presents the anisotropic magnetic properties of 2D van der Waals insulator chromium oxychloride (CrOCl). The temperature-dependent bulk magnetization study shows a paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition at around 14 K, while the magnetic field-dependent magnetization study reveals a field-induced metamagnetic transition from antiferromagnetic to ferrimagnetic state above 40 kOe. Notably, the switching of magnetization's easy plane to the c-axis can be observed at or above 29 kOe. Additionally, near the Neel temperature, the magnetic entropy change under applied magnetic field is estimated to be 4.31 J kg(-1) K-1 for H//c.