Second-Order Magnetic Transition and Low Field Magnetocaloric Effect in Nanocrystalline $$\hbox {Pr}_ {5}\hbox {Co}_{19}$$ Compound

Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties have been studied for the \(\hbox {Pr}_{5}\hbox {Co}_{19}\) compound crystallized in the Ce\(_{5}\hbox {Co}_{19}\)-type structure (space group \(R\bar{3}m\)). We report a large magnetic entropy change (\(-\triangle S_{{\mathrm{M}}}^{\max }\)) at Curie temperature, using the thermodynamic Maxwell’s relation, which reaches a maximum of 5.2 J/(kg K) under a low magnetic field of 0-1.5 T. The temperature dependence of the magnetization and the Arott plots around the second order magnetic transition for this compound are also reported. The temperature dependence of the Landau coefficients has been derived by fitting the magnetization, using the Landau expansion of the magnetic free energy.