Effect of Ag substitution on structural,magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Pr_(0.6)Sr_(0.4–x)Ag_xMnO_3 manganites

A systematic investigation on the structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Pr_(0.6)Sr_(0.4-x)Ag_xMnO_3(x=0.05 and 0.1) manganites was reported. Rietveld refinements of the X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed that all samples were single phase and crystallized in the orthorhombic structure with Pnma space group. Magnetic measurements in a magnetic applied field of 0.01T revealed that the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition temperature T_C decreased from about 293 to 290 K with increasing silver content from x=0.05 to 0.1. The reported magnetocaloric entropy change and relative cooling power for both samples were considerably remarkable with a △S_(max) value of 1.9 J/(kg·K)and maximum RCP values of 100 J/kg, under a magnetic field change(?μ0H) equal to 1.8T. The analysis of the universal curves gave an evidence of a second order magnetic transition for the studied samples. The magnetic field influence on both the magnetic entropy change and the relative cooling power was also studied and discussed.