Structural and magnetic properties of RE2O2SO4 (RE = Gd, Tb, Dy and Ho) oxides featuring large direct and inverse magnetocaloric effect.

In this work, we fabricated the RE 2 O 2 SO 4 (RE = Gd, Tb, Dy and Ho) oxides by thermal decomposition and systematically determined regarding their structural and magnetic properties, especially of the magnetic phase transition (MPT) and magnetocaloric effect (MCE). All of these RE 2 O 2 SO 4 oxides are confirmed to crystallize in an orthogonal structure (space group: pmnb); the constituting elements are all distributed uniformly and presented as the RE 3+, S6+, and O2− valence states, respectively. They all exhibit a typical cryogenic MPT from paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic (AFM) state together with a field-induced metamagnetic transition (first-order type MPT) from AFM to ferromagnetic state below their MPT temperatures. All of these RE 2 O 2 SO 4 oxides exhibit considerable direct and inverse cryogenic MCE. The determined direct magnetocaloric parameters of present RE 2 O 2 SO 4 oxides, especially of Gd 2 O 2 SO 4 and Ho 2 O 2 SO 4 oxides, are comparable with most of recently reported RE -based magnetic solids, making them also considerable for practical cryogenic MR applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]