Effect of chemical pressure on the magnetocaloric effect of perovskite-like RCrO3 (R-Yb, Er, Sm and Y)

A comparative study of the magnetocaloric effect and refrigerant capacitance properties of orthorhombic perovskite-like isostructural compounds RCrO3 (R: Yb, Er, Y and Sm) was carried out (R cations with and without a magnetic moment and different cation size). Two scales of values can be observed at the Cr3+ and R3+ ordering temperatures. A higher magnetocaloric effect near the rare earth ion ordering temperature with values ranging from −ΔSM(TNCr) = [0.15 to 0.72] and a lower one at the Cr ordering temperature ranging from −ΔSM(TNR) = [-0.2 to 12.5]. A normal and an inverse magnetocaloric effect were observed in the low temperature regime for the case of Sm at and above the spin reorientation of the Cr ions. The evolution of −ΔSM with R3+ ion radius increase and with total paramagnetic system moment are also discussed.