摘要
The effect of Al doping in MnCoGe 1-x Al x compounds has been investigated. The substitution of Al for Ge enhances Mn-Mn covalent bonding by shortening the distance of nearest Mn atom layers, and thus stabilizes the hexagonal structure. As a result, first-order magnetostructural transition between ferromagnetic martensite and paramagnetic austenite takes place for the optimized compositions (x = 0.01, 0.02). Accompanied with the magnetostructural transition, large magnetocaloric effect (MCE) is observed. More doping of Al(x = 0.03, 0.04) leads to the separation of magnetic and structural transitions and remarkable reduction of MCE. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd.