Efficient magnetic refrigeration requires materials with large magnetocaloric properties over wide temperature ranges. Laves phase rare earth intermetallic compounds exhibit significant magnetocaloric effect at low temperatures. Recently, the design concept of high-entropy alloys has been introduced to enhance material properties. Also, multicomponent Laves phase compounds have been reported to exhibit competitive magnetocaloric properties comparable to those of individual compounds. In the present work, structural, magnetic, and magnetocaloric properties of a few multi-component rare earth intermetallic compounds of RAl2 and RNi2 family have been studied. Rare earth high-entropy alloys such as YGdDyHoEr, YTbDyHoEr and YGdTbHoEr have also been synthesized and characterized. These materials show interesting magnetic and magnetocaloric properties including significant refrigerant capacity and hence are promising candidates for magnetic refrigeration applications at low temperatures.

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