Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect in SmNiC2 compound

• Polycrystalline SmNiC2 sample shows strong texture phenomenon.
• First-order phase transition leads to obvious magnetocaloric effect.
• Weak magneto-elastic coupling determines the small shift of phase transition.
• Giant magnetocaloric effect is estimated for the applied field along a axis.

Polycrystalline SmNiC2 compound undergoes a first-order ferromagnetic transition around TC=17.5 K and then an anomaly around T3=25.0 K. The strong texture of polycrystalline SmNiC2 sample as well as the application direction of magnetic field determines the magnitude of magnetization, further affecting the magnetic entropy change. Weak magneto-elastic coupling is responsible for the small shift of TC with the increase of magnetic field, which leads to the invariability of the half maximum of the magnetic entropy change peak. Considering the strong magnetic anisotropy, a large magnetic entropy change ~14.1 J/kg K at 18 K for single crystal is estimated for a field change of 0–5 T along a axis. Large magnetocaloric effect and low cost indicate the potentiality of SmNiC2 as a candidate for low-temperature magnetic refrigerant.