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

Nat Mater. 2013 Jan;12(1):52-8. doi: 10.1038/nmat3463. Epub 2012 Oct 28.

Abstract

Large thermal changes driven by a magnetic field have been proposed for environmentally friendly energy-efficient refrigeration, but only a few materials that suffer hysteresis show these giant magnetocaloric effects. Here we create giant and reversible extrinsic magnetocaloric effects in epitaxial films of the ferromagnetic manganite La(0.7)Ca(0.3)MnO(3) using strain-mediated feedback from BaTiO(3) 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.