Giant reversible magnetocaloric effect in antiferromagnetic superconductor Dy0.9Tm0.1Ni2B2C compound

The magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect in antiferromagnetic superconductor Dy0.9Tm0.1Ni2B2C compound have been studied. The magnetic phase transition TM (∼9.2 K) occurs above the superconducting transition temperature Tc (∼4.5 K). A giant reversible magnetocaloric effect has been observed, which is related to a field-induced first order metamagnetic transition from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic state. The values of maximum magnetic entropy change (−ΔSMmax) reach 14.7 and 19.1 J kg−1 K−1 for the field change of 5 and 7 T with no obvious hysteresis loss around 13 K, respectively. These results indicated that Dy0.9Tm0.1Ni2B2C could be a promising candidate for magnetic refrigeration at low temperatures.