Study on magnetocaloric and thermoelectric application potential of ferromagnetic compound CeCrGe3

We report on the magnetocaloric and thermoelectric properties of CeCrGe3. The compound crystallizes in the BaNiO3-type crystal structure (space group P63/mmc, no. 194, hP10) and undergoes paramagnetic to ferromagnetic phase transition at 70 K, close to the temperature of nitrogen condensation. The transition is found to be second order in nature as evidenced from the Arrott plot analysis. The reversible magnetocaloric effect was observed at low temperature with the magnetic entropy change reaching ΔSm = −2.2 J/(kg K) around 70 K in a magnetic field change of 5 T, with the relative cooling power of RCP = 57 J/kg and the adiabatic temperature change of ΔTad = 0.8 K. The electrical resistivity of CeCrGe3 shows a metalliclike behavior up to 900 K. The Seebeck coefficient remains positive from 2 K up to 900 K and reveals a broad maximum with Smax = 18 μV/K at 300 K. The thermal conductivity near room temperature is of the order of 5.3 W/(m K), resulting in a small value of thermoelectric figure of merit ZT = 0.005.