Magnetocaloric effect under applied pressure and the barocaloric effect in the compounds RCo2 (R = Er, Ho and Dy)

In this work, I discuss the magnetocaloric effect under applied pressure, as well as the barocaloric effect, in the Laves phase compounds RCo(2) (R = Er, Ho and Dy). To this end, I use a model Hamiltonian including both localized 4f spins and itinerant 3d electrons. The calculations point out that (i) for an applied pressure of 1.0 GPa the peaks of the magnetocaloric potentials [Delta S](M) and [Delta T(ad)](M) are shifted to lower temperatures, but their magnitudes remain almost unchanged; (ii) the magnetocaloric potentials exhibit sizable values in a wider range of temperatures, when both magnetic field and pressure are changed; (iii) the peaks of the barocaloric potentials [Delta S](B) and [Delta T(ad)](B) can be as large as the magnetocaloric ones.