Enhancement in magnetocaloric properties of ErCrO3 via A-site Gd substitution

Rare earth chromites (RCrO3) continue to be of considerable interest due to their intriguing physical properties such as spin-reorientation, multiferroicity, and magnetocaloric effect. In this paper, we compare the structural, magnetic, and magnetocaloric properties of bulk ErCrO3 with those of bulk Er0.33Gd0.67CrO3, the latter obtained by Gd substitution at the A-site (Er-site) and report substantial enhancement in the magnetocaloric response by Gd substitution. The samples prepared by the citrate route were structurally characterized at room temperature using x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The XRD measurements refined by Rietveld analysis indicate that both samples crystallized in the orthorhombically distorted perovskite structure with Pbnm space group. Magnetic measurements on both samples were carried out between 5 K and 300 K in magnetic fields up to 7 T and show that TNCr (where Cr3+ orders) for Er0.33Gd0.67CrO3 is enhanced to 155 K vs. 133 K for ErCrO3 with analogous changes in the other magnetic parameters. Isothermal magnetization M vs. H data at different temperatures were used to determine changes in the magnetic entropy ( −ΔS) and relative cooling power (RCP) for the two samples showing considerable improvement with Gd substitution in bulk ErCrO3. The maximum value of −ΔS for Er0.33Gd0.67CrO3 is 27.6 J kg−1 K−1 at 5 K and 7 T with a RCP of 531.1 J kg−1, in comparison to maximum −ΔS = 10.7 J kg−1 K−1 at 15 K with an RCP of 416.4 J kg−1 for ErCrO3 at 7 T.