A comparative investigation on structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Tb2MTiO6 (M = Co, Ni, Cu) compounds
摘要
The structure, magnetic behavior and magnetocaloric performance in heavy rare–earth based compounds Tb2MTiO6 (M = Co, Ni, Cu) have been experimentally investigated in this work. The structural analysis indicates that Tb2CoTiO6 and Tb2NiTiO6 crystallize in a monoclinic double perovskite structure, while Tb2CuTiO6 forms a hexagonal layered structure. The magnetic measurements reveal that the samples show high magnetic reversibility within a wide temperature range. The high-temperature Curie–Weiss fitting suggests that the antiferromagnetic coupling between RE3+ and RE3+ is dominant at low temperatures. The Arrott-plots imply that the magnetic transition in Tb2MTiO6 is of second–order nature according to the Banerjee’s criteria. The magnetic entropy change − ΔSM is evaluated to be 10.7, 16.2 and 13.2 J kg−1 K−1 for Tb2CoTiO6, Tb2NiTiO6 and Tb2CuTiO6 at 4 K and magnetic field change ΔH = 6 T, respectively. The work suggests that the lack of 3d–3d coupling in the design of double perovskites is one of the potential approaches for developing low-temperature magnetic refrigeration materials.