Prediction of optimized magnetocaloric effect in anisotropic zinc ferrite nanoparticles: A Monte Carlo simulation

The magnetocaloric effect in an array of anisotropic zinc ferrite nanoparticles was studied based on Monte Carlo simulations. For the 5-nm-diameter zinc ferrite nanoparticles, the maximum magnetic entropy change of ∼1.2 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ for the anisotropy with monodispersed orientation and small magnitude was obtained, roughly twofold larger than that in the dispersed anisotropic counterparts in the experiments, and the maximum adiabatic temperature variation of ∼2.25 K at 115 K was predicted, conveying that the zinc ferrite nanoparticles with proper anisotropy magnitudes and monodispersed easy axes are prospective portable, environmental friendly and rotary magnetic refrigerants with high magnetocaloric energy converting efficiencies and short operation times.