Giant refrigerant capacity in Gd-based amorphous/nanocrsytalline composite fibers

Magnetic refrigeration attracts increasing interests for its superior efficiency and eco-friendliness. The crystalline magnetocaloric materials usually exhibit large entropy change (Delta S-M) but narrow working temperature range, while the amorphous magnetocaloric materials usually exhibit broad working temperature range but skimpy Delta S-M at low temperatures. Herein, we designed Gd90-xNixAl10 (x = 5-15) amorphous/nanocrystalline composite fibers (ANCF) using melt extraction method in order to combine the advantages of amorphous and crystalline magnetocaloric materials. The Gd-based ANCF exhibits a giant refrigerant capacity (RC, 985 J kg(-1) for Gd80Ni10Al10) across a wide temperature range from 70 K to 270 K that is much larger than the known magnetocaloric materials. This superior property is attributed to the ideal coupling between amorphous phase and crystalline Gd & [GdNi] phases that distribute homogeneously. This work provides not only promising refrigeration magnetic materials but also a general scaleable method for fabricating at the temperature range from room temperature to liquid nitrogen temperatures. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study developed amorphous/nanocrystalline composite fibers with a huge refrigerant capacity, which can be used for magnetic refrigeration across a wide temperature range, providing a new approach to the research of refrigeration magnetic materials.