Magnetocaloric properties of Cd-substituted perovskite-type manganese oxides

Abstract Polycrystalline samples of cadmium-doped lanthanum manganites having nanometric crystallite size have been synthesized by sol–gel method. The Curie temperature ( T C ) of the prepared samples is found to be strongly dependent on Cd content and spans between 253 and 270 K. The Curie temperature has been analysed by two methods: a linear extrapolation of M ( T ) to zero magnetization and the thermodynamic model. Close to T C , a large change in magnetic entropy has been observed in all the samples. With increasing Cd concentration, a systematic increase in the values of magnetic entropy is observed ( 1.8 ≤ Δ S m max ≤ 2.33 J / ( kg K ) ) with H  = 10 kOe. Our result about magnetocaloric properties suggests that La 1 −  x Cd x MnO 3 compounds are suitable for sub-room temperature magnetic refrigeration.