Tunable magnetostructural phase transition and magnetocaloric effect in Mn1−xNi1−xCo2xSi1−xGex system

Magnetostructural transition and the associated magnetocaloric effect were investigated for Mn1−xNi1−xCo2xSi1−xGex system. Co and Ge co-substitution drastically reduces the structural transition temperature from 1200 K to below room temperature. The magnetostructural transition occurring between a ferromagnetic and a paramagnetic state with a sharp jump in magnetization was realized, which is tunable in a broad Curie-temperature window spanning room temperature by altering the composition. Relatively large magnetic entropy changes and broad working temperature ranges were observed. These results suggest that the Mn1−xNi1−xCo2xSi1−xGex system can be an attractive platform for the tunable magnetostructural transition and the magnetocaloric effect.