Low-Temperature Heat Capasity Measurements in Gd-Based Nanocomposites

The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of hybrid nanostructure consisting of fine gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) nanoparticles with diameter up to 12 nm loaded into the pores of the periodically ordered mesoporous silica with cubic (SBA-16) symmetry were investigated. These studies were mainly based on heat capacity Cp measurements in temperature range 0.4-55 K under external magnetic field from 0 to 9 T. After the subtraction of lattice heat capacity contribution, the maximum of isothermal magnetic entropy change Delta S-M = 33 J/(K kg) and value of refrigerant capacity power RCP similar to 170 J/kg was obtained at temperature 2.5 K. Our findings confirm that this kind of nanocomposites can be promising for future refrigeration technology applications.