Magnetic entropy change and large refrigerant capacity of Ce6Ni2Si3-type GdCoSiGe compound

Magnetic entropy change (△S M) and refrigerant capacity (RC) of Ce 6 Ni 2 Si 3-type Gd 6 Co 1.67 Si 2.5 Ge 0.5 compounds have been investigated.The Gd 6 Co 1.67 Si 2.5 Ge 0.5 undergoes a reversible second-order phase transition at the Curie temperature T C=296 K.The high saturation magnetization leads to a large △S M and the maximal value of △S M is found to be 5.9 J/kg · K around T C for a field change of 0-5 T.A broad distribution of the △S M peak is observed and the full width at half maximum of the △S M peak is about 101 K under a magnetic field of 5 T.The large RC is found around T C and its value is 424 J/kg.