Giant Magnetocaloric Effect in Magnets Down to the Monolayer Limit

New Publication in “Small”

2023/05/12

Schematic of refrigeration cycle using MCE of 2D magnets. SCP: specific cooling power.

Authors: Weiwei He, Yan Yin, Qihua Gong, Richard F. L. Evans, Oliver Gutfleisch, Bai-Xiang Xu, Min Yi, Wanlin Guo

2D magnets can potentially revolutionize information technology, but their potential application to cooling technology and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in a material down to the monolayer limit remain unexplored. Herein, it is revealed through multiscale calculations the existence of giant MCE and its strain tunability in monolayer magnets such as CrX3 (X = F, Cl, Br, I), CrAX (A = O, S, Se; X = F, Cl, Br, I), and Fe3GeTe2. The maximum adiabatic temperature change (ΔTmaxad), maximum isothermal magnetic entropy change, and specific cooling power in monolayer CrF3 are found as high as 11 K, 35 µJ m−2 K−1, and 3.5 nW cm−2 under a magnetic field of 5 T, respectively. A 2% biaxial and 5% a-axis uniaxial compressive strain can remarkably increase ΔTmaxad of CrCl3 and CrOF by 230% and 37% (up to 15.3 and 6.0 K), respectively. It is found that large net magnetic moment per unit area favors improved MCE. These findings advocate the giant-MCE monolayer magnets, opening new opportunities for magnetic cooling at nanoscale.

Link to Article

Small, May 2023

DOI: 10.1002/smll.202300333