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The crystal structure and magnetic properties of GdMn6Ge6−xSix

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Abstract

In the family compounds of RMn6Ge6, GdMn6Ge6 exhibits excellent magnetic properties and a complex magnetic transition behavior. The samples of GdMn6Ge6−xSix were successful prepared by a vacuum arc furnace. The XRD analysis and Rietveld refinement results show that GdMn6Ge6−xSix crystallize in a hexagonal HfFe6Ge6-type structure with space group P6/mmm, and their lattice parameters a and c decrease with the increasing Si content. The M-T curves in the range of 100–600 K indicates that the compounds experienced two magnetic transitions (AFM-FM and FM-PM) and a large thermal hysteresis between ZFC and FCC curves. The AFM-FM transition occurred at Tt for GdMn6Ge6-xSix is a first-order phase transition and the FM-PM transition belongs to a second-order one. The magnetic transition temperature Tt is greatly influenced by the Si content, and the Curie temperature (Tc) for the all samples is roughly the same. The −∆SM for the x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 compounds under the applied magnetic field of 1.6 T are 0.83, 1.06, 1.21 and 1.19 J kg−1·K−1 around 486 K, respectively. This relatively large −∆SM of GdMn6Ge6−xSix occurred in a relatively high temperature region and under low applied magnetic field provide a potential material choices in new magnetic refrigeration application.

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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51861003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals and Materials, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Processing for Non-Ferrous Metals and Featured Materials, School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Feikuo Chen, Wei He, Tonghan Yang, Xi Yu, Weining Wu & YiFei Bi

  2. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Tonghan Yang

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  1. Feikuo Chen
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  2. Wei He
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  4. Xi Yu
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. FC: Sample preparation, data analysis, Rietveld refinement, writing. WH: Project administration, data analysis, writing, reviewing and editing. TY: XRD data analysis, magnetic analysis, editing. XY: XRD data collection and analysis. WW: magnetic analysis. YB: magnetic measurements, data collection. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wei He.

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Chen, F., He, W., Yang, T. et al. The crystal structure and magnetic properties of GdMn6Ge6−xSix. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 3835–3848 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-07575-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-07575-x

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