Giant and reversible extrinsic magnetocaloric effects in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 films due to strain

TL;DR

This study demonstrates large, reversible magnetocaloric effects in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 films induced by strain from BaTiO3 substrates, offering potential for eco-friendly refrigeration technologies.

Contribution

It introduces a method to achieve giant, reversible extrinsic magnetocaloric effects in manganite films via strain engineering near a structural phase transition.

Findings

Giant magnetocaloric effects achieved in epitaxial films

Reversibility of effects demonstrated

Potential for practical refrigeration applications

Abstract

Large thermal changes driven by a magnetic field have been proposed for environmentally friendly energy efficient refrigeration, but only a few materials which suffer hysteresis show these giant magnetocaloric effects. Here we create giant and reversible extrinsic magnetocaloric effects in epitaxial films of the ferromagnetic manganite La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 using strain mediated feedback from BaTiO3 substrates near a first-order structural phase transition. Our findings should inspire the discovery of giant magnetocaloric effects in a wide range of magnetic materials, and the parallel development of nanostructured bulk samples for practical applications.