Rare-earth-based magnetocaloric intermetallic compounds are promising candidates for magnetocaloric hydrogen liquefaction. Heavy rare-earth-based materials generally show more excellent magnetocaloric effects than their light rare-earth-based counterparts. However, heavy rare earths are more critical than light rare earths. Here comes the dilemma: higher magnetocaloric performance or less element criticality? Our new review paper reveals a fact that magnetocaloric effect gets more pronounced toward lower temperature in the cryogenic temperature range. With this discovery, we have comprehensively reviewed heavy rare-earth-based and light rare-earth-based magnetocaloric intermetallic compounds and summarized ways of resolving the performance-criticality dilemma.

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2024.174612