Metamagnetism and Magnetocaloric Properties in a van der Waals Antiferromagnet CrOCl.

Herein, the anisotropic magnetic properties of 2D van der Waals (vdW) insulator, chromium oxychloride (CrOCl), are presented. Temperature‐dependent bulk magnetization reveals a paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition at ≈14 K (Néel temperature, TN) while cooling. From the magnetic field‐dependent magnetization study (M–H) at low temperature, a first‐order field‐induced (at or above 40 kOe) metamagnetic transition from antiferromagnetic to ferrimagnetic state has been observed. Noticeably, switching of the easy plane (ab‐plane) of the magnetization to the c‐axis can be identified above 29 kOe. Moreover, in the vicinity of TN, under an applied magnetic field, magnetic entropy change (ΔSM) can be estimated as 4.31 J kg−1 K−1 for H//c. The results evoke further experiments on charge/spin transport properties of few‐layer CrOCl in the nanoelectronic circuit framework for understanding the connection between crystallographic deformation and metamagnetism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]