Effects of barium deficiency on structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of La0.6Nd0.1Ba0.3−xMn0.9Cr0.1O3 manganites

ABSTRACTWe have investigated the effects of barium deficiency on structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of La0.6Nd0.1Ba0.3−xMn0.9Cr0.1O3 (x = 0, 0.05 and 0.1) manganites prepared using the solid-state reaction. All the studied samples crystallize in the orthorhombic structure phase with Pnma space group. Magnetization versus temperature showed that the samples exhibit a second-order paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition with a decrease of the Curie temperature (TC) from 275 K for x = 0–235 K for x = 0.1. The increase of barium deficiency leads to the decrease of the maximum magnetic entropy change ΔSMmax and relative cooling power values from (4.40 J.kg−1 K−1 and 262.94 J.kg−1, for x = 0) to (2.78 J.kg−1 K−1 and 159.41 J.kg−1, for x = 0.1) for an applied magnetic field μ0H = 5 T. These values are compared favorably with those of some other reported manganites, making our samples promising candidates for the magnetic refrigeration technology.