Hydrostatic pressure-tuned magnetostructural transition and magnetocaloric effect in Mn-Co-Ge-In compounds

Polycrystalline MnCoGe0.99In0.01 with magnetostructural transition temperature (Tmstr) around 330 K has been prepared by arc-melting technique, and the pressure-tuned magnetostructural transition as well as the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) has been investigated. The experimental results indicate that a pressure (P) smaller than 0.53 GPa can shift Tmstr to lower temperature at a considerable rate of 119 K/GPa with the coupled nature of magnetostructural transition unchanged. However, as P reaches 0.53 GPa, the martensitic structural transition temperature (TM) further shifts to 254 K while the magnetic transition temperature of austenitic phase (TCA) occurs at around 282 K, denoting the decoupling of magnetostructural transition. Further increasing P to 0.87 GPa leads the further shift of TM to a lower temperature while the TCA keeps nearly unchanged. Therefore, the entropy change (ΔS) of the MnCoGe0.99In0.01 under different magnetic fields can be tailored by adjusting the hydrostatic pressure.