Machine Learning Guided Discovery of Gigantic Magnetocaloric Effect in HoB_2 Near Hydrogen Liquefaction Temperature
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Magnetic refrigeration exploits the magnetocaloric effect which is the entropy change upon application and removal of magnetic fields in materials, providing an alternate path for refrigeration other than the conventional gas cycles. While intensive research has uncovered a vast number of magnetic materials which exhibits large magnetocaloric effect, these properties for a large number of compounds still remain unknown. To explore new functional materials in this unknown space, machine learning is used as a guide for selecting materials which could exhibit large magnetocaloric effect. By this approach, HoB_2 is singled out, synthesized and its magnetocaloric properties are evaluated, leading to the experimental discovery of gigantic magnetic entropy change 40.1 J kg^-1 K^-1 (0.35 J cm^-3 K^-1) for a field change of 5 T in the vicinity of a ferromagnetic second-order phase transition with a Curie temperature of 15 K. This is the highest value reported so far, to our knowledge, near the hydrogen liquefaction temperature thus it is a highly suitable material for hydrogen liquefaction and low temperature magnetic cooling applications.
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