Motivation
The Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, and other international documents have emphasized the need to advance climate-neutral policies to develop a decarbonized economy, enabling a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This has promoted the implementation of legal actions within the European Commission aimed at decarbonizing the gas market through the adoption of renewable and low-carbon energy technologies in the European Union.
According to the International Energy Agency, hydrogen (H₂), in both gaseous and liquid forms, will play a key role in developing a clean and cost-effective global energy system, reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, though rarely present as a gas on Earth, requiring a chemical process for its production.
The energy efficiency of current cryogenic refrigeration cycles is insufficient for large-scale production and commercialization of liquid hydrogen. In this context, magnetic refrigeration has proven to be a competitive technology in the 10–80 K range, reaching efficiencies up to 50% of the Carnot cycle. This process relies on the magnetocaloric effect, characterized by changes in magnetic entropy (|ΔSm|) and adiabatic temperature (ΔTad) when a magnetic field is applied or removed. Identifying and optimizing materials with high magnetocaloric performance is key to advancing this technology.
Goals of MagnetoCaloricH
- Develop an experimental method to design and fabricate textured materials with enhanced magnetocaloric properties
- Engineer anisotropic heterostructures and materials with geometries and magnetocaloric properties adaptable to specific applications
