HEИндивидуална стипендия2022–2024

FRUMALIQ · Frustrated systems with low-dimensional magnetism for magnetic refrigeration and hydrogen liquefaction

„Хоризонт Европа“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2022-10-01 → 2024-03-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 130 386 €
Участници: 1
Схема: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Магнитните материали, наречени „фрустрирани магнити“, се изследват за използване при охлаждане на водород до –253 °C. Това може да направи съхранението и транспорта на водорода като екологично гориво по-ефективни и по-малко енергоемки.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Frustrated systems with low-dimensional magnetism for magnetic refrigeration and hydrogen liquefaction

Hydrogen, a carbon-free fuel producing only water upon reaction with oxygen, offers an alternative to fossil fuels and its favorable high energy density makes it attractive to store renewable energy. Current challenges for implementation are the transport over long distances and large-scale storage. Liquifying hydrogen is a solution; however, it requires cooling down to the hydrogen boiling point of –253 °C (20.3 K). For that, current technology consumes roughly one-third of the energy stored in liquid hydrogen. Magnetic refrigeration represents a promising alternative cooling method, offering higher efficiency, reliability, and less noisy construction, and importantly, it does not rely on harmful or greenhouse gases as a working medium. Magnetic refrigeration exploits the magnetocaloric effect, at which a magnetic material exposed to a variable magnetic field changes its temperature. Most attention has been devoted to intermetallic compounds containing rare-earth metals that rely on magnetic phase transitions in the desired temperature range, and therefore a strong magnetocaloric effect. The overarching objective of the FRUMALIQ project is to search for suitable magnetocalorics among a distinct class of magnetic materials ¬– frustrated magnets, while avoiding rare-earth elements due to their high strategic importance. In frustrated magnets, the arrangement of magnetic atoms prevents their magnetic moments from ordering in a large temperature window, and results in many different possibilities for how correlated magnetic moments can be arranged with practically the same energy. Small applied magnetic fields then cause large changes in the magnetic state of these fascinating materials. Their inherent properties make frustrated magnets especially suitable for cooling at cryogenic temperatures – for example, close to hydrogen boiling point – and by using cheaper permanent magnets. The main scientific objectives and activities tackled by this 18-month project can be summarized as follows. First, we synthesized rare-earth-free compounds, using abundant elements. Those compounds that classify as frustrated magnets with promising magnetic properties in the temperature range close to the boiling temperature of hydrogen were selected for fundamental characterization. Second, after an in-depth analysis of their properties, the magnetocaloric efficiency was evaluated by employing a plethora of different characterization methods. Finally, selected methods of computational chemistry were employed for advanced interpretation of the observed properties. The class of compounds we studied represents promising magnetocalorics for magnetic refrigeration for hydrogen liquefaction, and the project defines pathways for further research.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Carbon-free hydrogen represents one of the pillars of global energy transformation. However, higher efficiency within the hydrogen supply chain, including liquefaction, is the crucial prerequisite to reduce its cost and trigger its wider use. Magnetic refrigeration, which utilizes the magnetocaloric effect, promises to double the efficiency of hydrogen liquefaction compared to gas-compression cryocooling, but the technologies available at present mostly employ magnetocaloric materials containing strategically important rare-earth (RE) metals and expensive superconducting magnets. We propose to search for suitable RE-free materials within an emerging class of magnetocalorics based on frustrated magnets, which are especially suitable for cooling at cryogenic temperatures. According to theoretical predictions and pioneering studies, these materials offer high effectivity in permanent magnets, higher cooling rates, and a larger temperature span than non-frustrated systems. The RE-free frustrated magnetocalorics have been little prospected so far to achieve the limits of their efficiency. The project aims to (1) synthesize novel RE-free frustrated magnets with low-dimensional magnetic motifs and to enhance their magnetocaloric performance at cryogenic temperatures by suitable chemical modification, while (2) exploring correlations between the magnetocaloric effect, local atomic and magnetic structure, and magnetic fluctuations. The synthesis of novel compounds will be followed by magnetometry and calorimetry, while local information will be extracted from Mssbauer spectroscopy and neutron methods. Theoretical calculations will complement the experiment. The fellow and the host will combine their fields of expertise, the low-temperature physics and solid-state chemistry, to elucidate the phenomena behind the magnetocaloric effect in frustrated systems and ultimately to design efficient magnetocalorics that beat the present obstacles.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ · MainzКоординаторГермания