Effect of morphology on the magnetic properties of Gd2O3 nanotubes

• Gd2O3 nanotubes of diameter ~100 nm synthesized through electrochemical technique.
• At cryogenic temperature, the nanotubes exhibit large magnetocaloric effect.
• These are promising candidates for magnetic refrigeration at cryogenic temperature.

Gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) nanotubes of micron length and average diameter 100 nm have been synthesized by a controlled template-assisted electrochemical deposition technique. Structure and morphology of the synthesized nanotubes have been well characterized by using microscopy and spectroscopy analyses. HRTEM and XRD analysis revealed the crystalline planes of Gd2O3 nanotubes. Magnetic measurements of the aligned Gd2O3 nanotubes have been performed for both parallel and perpendicular orientations of the magnetic field with respect to the axis of the Gd2O3 nanotube array. Large bifurcation in ZFC–FC over the regime of 2–320 K without any signature of long range magnetic ordering confirms the presence of SPM clusters in Gd2O3 nanotubes. Also, large magnetocaloric effect is observed in the cryogenic temperature regime. No anisotropy is seen at the low temperature region but is found to evolve with temperature and becomes significant ~300 K. These nanotubes can be considered as promising candidates for magnetic refrigeration at cryogenic temperature.